Mound, Lackanascarry, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Mound, Lackanascarry, Co. Limerick

A small oval mound sitting atop a hillock in County Limerick carries a name that quietly signals something older and stranger than its modest dimensions might suggest.

The hillock is recorded on the Ordnance Survey six-inch map as Knockseefin, and local tradition gives it the Irish name Cnoc Shee Bhín, which translates roughly as the fairy hill or fairy mound of Bín. The association with the sídhe, the supernatural beings of Irish folklore often linked to ancient burial mounds and liminal landscapes, places this unremarkable-looking rise in a long tradition of sites where the physical and the otherworldly were understood to overlap.

The mound itself is oval in plan, measuring approximately four metres north to south and two and a half metres east to west. It sits within undulating pasture and is defined by a broad scarped edge to the east, around eight metres wide and rising nearly two metres, with a steeper and narrower scarp to the west. Scarped edges like these are formed by cutting or shaping the ground to create a defined slope, a technique associated with earthwork construction across many periods of Irish prehistory. The surface of the mound is uneven, a condition attributed to erosion by cattle grazing on the hillock over time. The site was documented by Denis Power and uploaded to the record in December 2013. One small cartographic oddity worth noting: the current Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows a triangulation pillar at the centre of the mound, but the pillar has in fact been relocated to the south-southwest of the monument, so the map and the ground do not quite agree.

The mound occupies a genuinely commanding position, with excellent views ranging from south through to north-north-east, and reasonable visibility in the opposing arc. That kind of panoramic placement is worth keeping in mind when visiting, as it may explain why the spot was considered significant in the first place. Access is across farmland, so landowner permission should be sought before approaching. The site lies within the townland of Lackanascarry, and the hillock itself is the clearest landmark to aim for. Once there, the unevenness of the mound surface is immediately apparent underfoot, and the broader scarped edge to the east is the more visually prominent of the two defining slopes.

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Pete F
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