Enclosure, Na Gleannta Thuaidh, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Enclosures
In the rough mountain terrain of Na Gleannta Thuaidh, in County Kerry, a large roughly square enclosure sits embedded within an old field system, its drystone walls still holding their shape against the landscape.
Several drystone-built structures cluster within or just outside its boundaries, the kind of arrangement that suggests sustained, organised habitation rather than a single episode of use. Drystone construction, which relies on carefully stacked unmortered stone rather than any binding material, is common across the Dingle Peninsula, where good building stone was plentiful and lime scarce, but the combination here of a substantial enclosing boundary with associated smaller structures gives the site a particular quality of completeness.
The enclosure was documented as part of the Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey published in 1986 by J. Cuppage, a systematic effort to record the extraordinary density of prehistoric and early historic remains across the Dingle Peninsula. That survey, published under the title 'Corca Dhuibhne: Dingle Peninsula Archaeological Survey', remains a foundational reference for the area. The broader field system within which this enclosure sits points to a landscape that was once far more intensively worked than its current rough and open character might suggest, with communities farming and managing ground that has long since been surrendered back to mountain grass and heather.