Field system, Kilmartin, Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Ritual/Ceremonial
The fields at Kilmartin do not announce themselves.
At ground level, the landscape looks much like any other stretch of County Dublin farmland, unremarkable to the passing eye. But from the air, a different picture emerges: a coherent pattern of rectilinear fields laid out around an early church site, complete with two integrated trackways that once connected the working land to the ecclesiastical enclosure at its centre. It is the kind of discovery that tends to come quietly, through the medium of aerial photography rather than excavation or archive.
The field system came to light through aerial photographs catalogued as GB89. AF 07 and 08, and GB89. AE.10, and was compiled by researcher Geraldine Stout, with the record uploaded in January 2015. The rectilinear arrangement, meaning fields laid out in roughly straight-sided, geometric plots rather than following natural contours, is significant because it suggests organised, planned land use closely associated with the adjacent church and its enclosure. Early ecclesiastical sites in Ireland were frequently the anchors of wider agricultural economies, with surrounding land managed to support monastic or parish communities. The two trackways integrated into the field pattern indicate that movement through this landscape was deliberate and structured, linking the farmed plots to the religious site in a way that speaks to how inseparable the sacred and the practical often were in early Irish settlement.
Because so much of what is known about this site comes from aerial evidence rather than visible surface features, a visit requires some patience and preparation. The trackway associated with the system was noted as visible on Bing Bird's Eye imagery as recently as January 2015, so consulting aerial mapping services before going is worthwhile; what is invisible from the road can become legible from above. The church site and its enclosure provide the clearest orientation point on the ground. Visiting in late winter or early spring, when vegetation is low, gives the best chance of picking out slight earthworks or crop mark residues that hint at the buried boundaries beneath.