Mound, Butterhill, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Ritual/Ceremonial
On a low hilltop in County Wicklow, someone went to considerable trouble to move a great deal of earth.
The result is an oval mound roughly 44 metres across and about 4 metres high, its bulk encircled by a wide, flat berm, the kind of levelled terrace that forms when material is scraped away from the ground immediately surrounding a mound during its construction. That berm, running 10 to 12 metres wide around the base, is itself a clue to the ambition of whoever built here: they were not simply piling up soil, but shaping the entire hilltop.
The site commands wide views to the west, north, and east, with Lugnagun mountain visible to the south-south-east, a placement that feels deliberate rather than incidental. Large earthen mounds of this type in Ireland are generally associated with prehistoric funerary or ceremonial activity, though without excavation it is impossible to say with certainty what lies beneath. The summit platform, about 15 metres in diameter, is ringed by a low earthen bank, though this feature may be a later addition rather than part of the original design. Some damage has been done on the north-east side, where part of the mound has been quarried away. The site was noted by Price and Walshe in 1933, and it has since been placed under a preservation order, acknowledging both its vulnerability and its significance.