Enclosure, Teeromoyle, Co. Kerry

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Teeromoyle, Co. Kerry

On the south-western slopes of Coomacarrea mountain in County Kerry, a stone enclosure sits on the banks of the Ferta river without ever having made it onto the Ordnance Survey maps.

What the river has not already claimed, roughly half the original circuit, survives as a semicircular band of collapsed walling, about 0.9 metres wide and 0.9 metres high. The interior, with a diameter of around 14 metres, is raised half a metre above the surrounding ground, giving the impression of a low platform rather than a ruin, as though the land itself remembers that something deliberate once stood here.

The northern arc of the enclosure has eroded directly into the Ferta, leaving only the southern half to hint at what was once a complete circular structure. Circular enclosures of this kind, typically built from dry-laid stone, were common features of the early medieval Irish landscape, used variously as farmsteads, cattle pounds, or enclosed settlements. What makes this site particularly interesting is the cluster of walls found nearby, thought to be broadly contemporary with the enclosure. These walls run beneath the surrounding peat at intervals, surfacing occasionally to a height of up to 0.5 metres above the bog. They are built from upright slabs set at right angles to the walls' own axes, a construction method that points to deliberate, organised land use rather than casual field clearance. The peat that now buries them has preserved their form while simultaneously erasing them from view, so that most of what remains of this small complex lies hidden just below the surface.

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Pete F
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