Enclosure, Gortacreenteen, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Gortacreenteen, Co. Kerry

On a south-east-facing slope above the valley of the Slaheny River, a low grass-covered ring barely interrupts the rough hill pasture around it.

What protrudes from the bog is the remnant of a drystone wall, an oval enclosure measuring roughly 7.4 metres east to west and 5.6 metres north to south, its stones still discernible beneath the turf though standing no more than 0.4 metres above the surface. Enclosures of this kind, defined simply by a low drystone or earthen boundary, are among the quieter puzzles of the Irish landscape. They may have served as small farmsteads, stock enclosures, or other functional spaces in early medieval or prehistoric periods, and their true age is often difficult to pin down without excavation.

What makes this particular example worth a second look is the way it sits in relation to its surroundings. The north-west portion of the interior has been cut slightly into the upslope, suggesting the builders levelled the ground before laying out the enclosure wall, a modest but deliberate piece of earth-moving. That same north-west arc adjoins what is recorded as a relict field boundary, meaning a fossilised remnant of older agricultural organisation still faintly readable in the terrain. The two features together hint at a landscape that was once managed and subdivided, long before the hill was given over to rough grazing. The wall is best preserved along its south-east to north arc, where it still protrudes convincingly above the bog surface.

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Pete F
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