Enclosure, Maddockstown, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Maddockstown, Co. Kilkenny

Beneath the fields of Maddockstown in County Kilkenny, the outline of a circular enclosure lies invisible at ground level, detectable only from the air.

What the eye cannot see from the ground, a camera at altitude can: a cropmark, the subtle variation in how crops grow above disturbed or compacted soil, tracing the line of an ancient fosse, a defensive ditch, that once defined the boundary of this ring-shaped enclosure.

The site is known entirely through a single aerial photograph, reference GB90.BN.26, in which the cropmark resolves clearly enough to establish the enclosure's circular form and its defining ditch. Circular enclosures of this type are common across the Irish landscape and belong broadly to a tradition stretching from the prehistoric period through to the early medieval, when enclosed farmsteads known as raths or ring-forts were built in their thousands. The fosse would originally have been paired with an internal bank, though no surface trace of either survives here. What the aerial image captures is essentially a ghost of that arrangement, preserved not in earthworks but in the differential growth of whatever crop happened to be in the field when the photograph was taken.

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, Maddockstown, Co. Kilkenny. 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