Enclosure, Oldboleys, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Enclosures
On the Wicklow bog at Oldboleys, a circular earthwork sits in the peat that, at first glance, looks as though it might be ancient.
Three concentric banks ring the feature, with the outer bank spanning roughly 45 metres in diameter, a scale that would not be out of place for a prehistoric enclosure. Aerial photography reveals the structure clearly, the rings cutting into the dark ground with the kind of regularity that tends to attract attention. The problem is that it almost certainly is not old at all.
A closer inspection, and a little local knowledge, tells a different story. The enclosure is a modern construction, cut directly into the peat rather than built up from accumulated use over centuries. Stone was brought to the site from elsewhere, used partly to surface one of the enclosing fosses, the trench-like channels between the banks. At the centre sits a shallow pit, itself ringed by a low wall of stones resting loosely on the bog surface. The most plausible explanation for those stones is that they once served as anchor points for upright supports, and the corrugated iron sheeting now scattered across the area suggests some kind of temporary roofed structure once stood here. Whether it was a shelter, a storage facility, or something else entirely remains unclear. No record has come to light that establishes who built it or when.