Enclosure, Lisnagree, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Lisnagree, Co. Galway

On a low hill in north County Galway, there was once a circular enclosure roughly twenty metres across.

Today, a silage pit occupies the spot. The archaeological site at Lisnagree is, in the most literal sense, gone, and yet it continues to appear in county inventories, quietly holding its place in the record as a thing that existed and no longer can be visited, examined, or even seen.

The enclosure was documented on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which was produced in Ireland during the mid-nineteenth century and remains one of the primary tools for identifying features that have since vanished from the landscape. At that time the site appeared as a clearly defined circular form, a shape associated in Irish archaeology with the ringfort tradition, the broad family of enclosed farmsteads that were built and occupied mainly between the early medieval period and the twelfth century. Whether this particular enclosure belonged to that tradition cannot be confirmed from what survives. By the time the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra, and Paul Gosling, was published in 1999, no visible surface trace remained.

There is nothing to see at Lisnagree, and that is precisely what makes it worth knowing about. The conversion of the site to agricultural use is not unusual; a significant proportion of Ireland's recorded enclosures have been ploughed, levelled, or built over. What the silage pit at Lisnagree represents is ordinary and widespread, the steady attrition of earthworks that were never protected in time.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Enclosure, Lisnagree, Co. Galway. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement