Enclosure, Trooperstown, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Enclosures
On the lower northern slopes of Trooperstown Hill in County Wicklow, a circular arrangement of small, low stones marks out something that has been quietly waiting to be noticed since at least the mid-nineteenth century.
The enclosure, roughly thirty metres in diameter at its widest, is subtle enough that its full outline becomes clearest not from ground level but from aerial photographs, where the ring of stones resolves into a coherent shape against the edge of the surrounding forestry.
The feature was already present and notable enough to be recorded on the Ordnance Survey's six-inch map of 1838, which captured it as a small circular enclosure. More recently, an inspection carried out by a Coillte Environmental Officer, Coillte being the state forestry company responsible for much of Ireland's commercial woodland, confirmed the monument's details at ground level. At the centre of the enclosure sits a low stone cairn, a modest mound of gathered stones, measuring approximately 9.5 metres east to west and 9 metres north to south, and standing about 0.75 metres high. Cairns of this kind appear throughout the Irish upland landscape and are generally associated with prehistoric activity, though their precise purposes varied widely, from burial markers to boundary indicators. The relationship between this particular cairn and the enclosure that surrounds it remains unexcavated and unexplained.
The monument sits at the forestry edge, which means its visibility and accessibility are likely to shift depending on felling and replanting cycles. The aerial photographs that revealed the stone circle most clearly suggest the enclosure is best appreciated with some patience and a willingness to read the landscape carefully rather than expect an obvious structure.
