Field system, Coole Demesne, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Field system, Coole Demesne, Co. Galway

Coole Park in County Galway is remembered today largely through its literary associations, but the woods conceal older stories altogether.

In November 2014, tree-felling operations in Incha Wood inadvertently uncovered a cashel, a type of early medieval stone enclosure typically built as a defended farmstead or settlement, along with what appears to be a network of ancient field walls spreading out around it. The walls were not sought out; they simply emerged as the timber came down.

A preliminary inspection took place on 17 November 2014, with a more thorough re-inspection carried out on 8 April 2015. By then, six separate wall traces had been identified, radiating generally to the south and west of the cashel. They vary considerably in length, from a short six-metre fragment to stretches of around thirty metres, and in construction, some built from a single line of boulders, others showing double walling where the stones are laid in two parallel courses. The tallest surviving section reaches only half a metre in height. Several walls interlock or meet at angles, suggesting something more systematic than casual boundary-making, though whether they are genuinely contemporary with the cashel or represent a later phase of agricultural use remains unresolved. All six are heavily dilapidated, thickly overgrown with moss, and in places still obscured by debris left from the felling. Even the relationship between Wall 1 and the cashel itself could not be determined; its collapsed state made it impossible to tell whether it was ever bonded into the enclosure wall or simply ran alongside it.

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