Enclosure, Lissardboola, Co. Kerry

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Lissardboola, Co. Kerry

In a small field on the lower slopes of Knockawaddra Mountain in County Kerry, three disconnected stretches of earthen bank trace what may once have been the outline of an ancient enclosure.

What survives is fragmentary and unassuming, easy to overlook entirely, and yet the fragments carry enough regularity and scale to suggest something deliberately constructed rather than the product of field clearance or accident. The largest of the three sections is slightly curved, as though following the arc of a circular perimeter, and the geometry invites a straightforward question: what stood here, and for whom?

Surveyed by Michael Connolly as part of a Lee Valley area archaeological survey carried out in 1996 and 1997, the site sits roughly 180 metres east of the Big Stream, in a field that slopes gently from south to north. The western side of the field has been partly given over to a vegetable garden, and the section of bank nearest to it has been lost. To the east, a cattle path has partially worn down what remained of the circuit. The surviving banks average around 2.6 metres wide and stand only 0.4 metres high on the interior, 0.3 metres on the exterior, modest dimensions that nonetheless indicate a deliberate earthwork rather than casual spoil. More intriguing is a substantial raised area immediately to the east of the possible enclosure, measuring 23 metres long and 9.5 metres wide, and standing up to 1.7 metres high. This platform is clearly man-made, and may represent a second structure, possibly a separate earthwork or enclosure, that has been largely obliterated by the amalgamation of surrounding fields to the south, north, and east. Enclosures of this kind, typically circular or near-circular earthen boundaries, are common across Ireland and were used variously as farmsteads, ritual spaces, or places of local assembly over many centuries, from the early medieval period onwards.

The field is partially cultivated and the site sits within a working agricultural landscape, so the visible archaeology is subtle and requires some patience to read. The curved bank section and the prominent eastern platform are the two features most likely to catch the eye, particularly when low sunlight throws shadows across the ground and reveals slight changes in relief that are otherwise invisible.

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