Enclosure (Large), Lacka, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Enclosures
A public road cuts straight through what was once a single, coherent monument.
In a field at Lacka in County Tipperary, a large oval earthwork measuring roughly 100 metres north to south and 92 metres east to west survives as a low bank in pasture, its outline still legible from above even as modern infrastructure and field division have carved it up. A road running west-northwest to east-southeast bisects the enclosure just north of its centre, and a field boundary crosses the northern portion on a north-northeast to south-southwest line, slicing through the north-west quadrant. The result is a monument that exists, in practical terms, in several pieces, though its overall shape remains clear on satellite imagery.
Enclosures of this type, defined by an earthen bank and broadly oval in plan, are a recurring feature of the Irish landscape, and they can represent anything from early medieval settlement enclosures to prehistoric ceremonial sites. At roughly a hectare in area, this one sits at the larger end of the scale, which tends to suggest either a high-status domestic site or a non-domestic function altogether. It was identified and reported by Jean-Charles Caillère, whose scrutiny of aerial and satellite imagery has brought a number of such features to light across the country, this one apparently going unrecorded until he flagged it.



