Habitation site, Piperstown, Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Settlement Sites
On the southern slopes of Piperstown Hill in County Dublin, a small stone enclosure sits on the brow of a steep drop, ambiguous enough that archaeologists have never quite agreed on what it is.
Known in the survey record simply as Site B, it measures roughly 2.25 metres by 2 metres internally, a sub-rectangular ring of stones with its long axis running south-west to north-east. Some of the inner stones in its south-western corner are set vertically, suggesting a degree of deliberate construction, while what appears to be an entrance opens to the north-east. An earthen bank of more recent origin cuts across its south-eastern side, complicating any reading of the original form.
The uncertainty around Site B is part of what makes it worth attention. Writing in 1965, archaeologists Rynne and Ó hÉailidhe noted that the structure might be nothing more ancient than a shepherd's shelter of comparatively modern times, a candid admission that small, simple enclosures of this kind can be frustratingly difficult to date without excavation. What is less ambiguous is the broader landscape in which it sits. Piperstown Hill forms part of an extensive settlement and cemetery complex of Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age date, meaning the enclosure occupies ground that was demonstrably active somewhere between roughly five thousand and three and a half thousand years ago. Whether Site B belongs to that ancient phase or represents a later reuse of the same exposed hilltop is an open question.
The site lies on the southern slopes of Piperstown Hill, on the south-western edge of a plateau, positioned where the ground begins to fall away sharply. Visitors approaching from below will find the enclosure at the brow of that slope, which means it can be easy to overlook until you are almost upon it. The surrounding landscape rewards a slow look around; the broader archaeological complex of which this forms a part is spread across the hill, and the relationship between the various features becomes clearer on the ground than it does on any map. The stones themselves are unassuming, low and weathered, and the earthen bank cutting through the south-eastern side serves as a useful reminder that landscapes are rarely the product of a single moment in time.