Hilltop enclosure, Earlspark, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Enclosures
A large subcircular enclosure sits at the top of a hill in Earlspark, east Galway, largely invisible to anyone passing below.
It is not invisible because it was buried or demolished, but because its defining boundary is, for much of its circuit, simply the natural edge of the hill itself. Only from the air does the full shape become legible, which is exactly how it came to be recorded, during aerial reconnaissance in October 1984.
The enclosure measures roughly 115 metres north to south and 100 metres east to west, making it a substantial feature of the landscape. A low earthen bank marks the arc from the north-east through east to south-south-east, while the hill's own scarp does the work elsewhere. Within this roughly defined space, the foundations of a circular hut site occupy the centre, and the remains of what may be a house survive in the southern sector. A rath, the term for a ringfort or enclosed farmstead of early medieval date, lies about 70 metres to the east, suggesting this part of the hillside was in active use across an extended period. Modern field boundaries running north-north-east to south-south-west cut across the monument, and another runs outward from its centre in a westerly direction, meaning later agricultural activity has divided and partially obscured what was already a poorly preserved site. Lough Rea sits roughly a kilometre to the west, visible from the summit across the undulating pastureland that surrounds it.