Field boundary, Erneen, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Field boundary, Erneen, Co. Kerry

On a north-facing slope in Erneen, County Kerry, a stone wall disappears into the bog at both ends.

That sentence alone tells you something worth sitting with. The wall does not terminate, does not corner, does not meet another structure in any visible way; it simply slides beneath the surface of the peat and keeps whatever secrets it holds down there.

What can be seen runs for roughly forty metres across a terrace of rough hill pasture, curving rather than running straight, a form that suggests it once enclosed or divided land rather than simply demarcating a boundary in the modern rectilinear sense. The surviving section stands about half a metre above ground and is three-quarters of a metre thick, though the bog has swallowed it to a depth of around sixty centimetres on either side, meaning the buried portions are likely in considerably better condition than exposure and weathering would otherwise allow. Bog acts as a remarkable preservative, sealing organic and inorganic material alike in its cold, acidic layers, which is part of what makes a wall like this archaeologically interesting. The curvilinear form and the way it sits on a terrace overlooking a river valley are consistent with early field systems found across the west of Ireland, though the precise date of this particular example is not established. It faces north across what would have been, at some earlier point in the landscape's history, productive ground worth organising and enclosing.

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Pete F
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