Enclosure, Rossmackowen Commons, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Rossmackowen Commons, Co. Cork

On a north-west-facing slope above Coomnagapple Glen, on the western flank of Hungry Hill in west Cork, a small oval enclosure sits in rough peaty hill pasture, largely collapsed and easy to walk past without a second glance.

What makes it worth a closer look is the care that went into its construction relative to its modest scale. Whoever built it did not simply lay stones on the hillside; they cut into the slope itself, excavating roughly 0.4 metres into the uphill ground along the south-eastern to southern arc so that the interior would sit level rather than tilt with the gradient.

The enclosure measures approximately 6.8 metres north to south and 4.8 metres east to west, defined by a drystone wall, that is, a wall built without mortar, relying on the careful placement of stone alone. That wall has largely fallen, surviving to only about 0.3 metres in height, though along the southern arc a run of contiguous upright slabs still stands to around 0.65 metres, giving a sense of how the structure once looked. There is a break in the wall at the south-east, most likely the original entrance. A separate linear wall running east to west, surviving as a base course only, crosses the southern half of the interior, dividing the space in a way that suggests the enclosure may have served a functional purpose, perhaps the penning of animals or the separation of a working area, though no date or specific use has been established for it. Structures of this general type, small stone-walled enclosures built into hillside terrain, are found across upland Ireland and often defy easy classification, sitting somewhere between field boundary, animal pen, and more formal enclosure.

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Pete F
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