Field boundary, Mangerton, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Field boundary, Mangerton, Co. Kerry

On the south-west-facing slope of Mangerton Mountain in County Kerry, a stretch of old field wall is slowly disappearing into the bog.

Most of it is barely visible, a scatter of stones embedded in the peat, but here and there upright stones push up through the surface to a height of around 0.8 metres, giving the wall an intermittent, almost reluctant presence. It is the kind of feature that rewards careful attention: easy to miss, but quietly revealing once noticed.

The wall runs for approximately 70 metres to the north-west from the north-east arc of a nearby enclosure, on rough boggy pasture above the valley of the Owbaun River. Its overall dimensions, around 0.7 metres thick and 0.3 metres high where measurable, suggest a modest but functional field boundary rather than anything defensive or ceremonial. At the north-western end of the wall, close to where it terminates, there is a hut site, pointing to some form of settled or seasonal occupation in this upland area. Together, the wall and the hut site form part of a relict landscape, one in which people once divided up and worked ground that is now rough pasture and peat. The bog has both preserved and obscured this history; it locks the stones in place while gradually swallowing the context that would explain exactly when, and by whom, this boundary was made.

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Pete F
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