Enclosure, Grove, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Enclosures
Tucked into the mature deciduous woodland of Grove Wood in County Tipperary, this earthwork enclosure occupies one of the more precarious positions in the Irish archaeological landscape.
To its south, the ground falls away in a sheer drop; to its south-west, a ravine cuts through the hillside. It sits on a steep east-facing slope where the interior tilts downward beneath a thick cover of trees and overgrowth, making its boundaries easier to read on a map than on the ground.
The enclosure is sub-rectangular in plan, measuring roughly 80 metres north to south and 45 metres east to west. It is defined by a low earthen bank, about 7.2 metres wide, which stands only 0.35 metres above the interior but rises to 0.8 metres on the exterior face, and by an earthen scarp, a natural or deliberately shaped slope used as a boundary feature, running south-south-westward and measuring 4.5 metres wide and 2.4 metres high. The bank is most clearly formed along its western, northern, and north-eastern stretches, and at its northern end it turns inward toward a separate adjoining enclosure, leaving a gap of roughly 10 metres between the two. This relationship with neighbouring earthworks is what gives the site particular interest. Immediately to the west lies a cliff-edge fort, a type of enclosure that uses a natural precipice as part of its defensive boundary, and the enclosure's bank actually extends from the south-west corner of that fort. A further enclosure sits about 70 metres to the east. Rather than standing alone, this earthwork appears to be one component in a loose cluster of related monuments, all making deliberate use of the dramatic topography of the Grove Wood slope.