Enclosure, Inchnamuck, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Enclosures
In a reclaimed pasture field at Inchnamuck in County Tipperary, an archaeological enclosure has all but ceased to exist, at least as far as any visible evidence is concerned.
There is nothing to see at ground level today, no earthwork, no ditch, no raised bank, simply a slight natural rise in the land that corresponds roughly to where the monument once stood. It is the kind of place that rewards knowing it was ever there at all.
What makes the site quietly compelling is the record of its disappearance across successive maps. The first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map, published in 1840, shows an irregular rectangular enclosure roughly 66 metres north to south and 49 metres east to west, substantial dimensions for what may have been a defended or ceremonial space of early medieval or earlier origin. By the 1907 edition of the same map series, something had already changed: the enclosure is depicted as a raised oval area, noticeably reduced in extent to approximately 46 metres by 35 metres, suggesting the earthworks had been partially levelled by agricultural activity in the intervening decades. Enclosures of this type in Ireland, roughly circular or oval boundaries defined by banks and ditches, served many purposes depending on period and context, from early settlement and stock management to ecclesiastical use. By the time the field was reclaimed entirely, the monument had been absorbed into the landscape without leaving a surface trace behind.
The site sits towards the base of a fairly steep south-west-facing slope in undulating pasture, which at least allows a visitor to orient themselves to the general area. Without any upstanding feature to locate, the most honest observation one can make is that the land itself carries the faint suggestion of a rise where the enclosure once sat, perceptible if you are looking for it.