Field system

The National Monuments Service's description

On grass-covered pasture and bare karst in the NE end of Rathborney Valley between Cappanawalla Hill and Gleninagh ‘Mountain’. A multiphase field system (c. 1.2km N–S; 200m E–W) extending from, over and between an enclosure (CL002-075001-) at the N extent and a cashel (CL002-031----) at S. Small irregularly shaped fields defined by mound walls extend NE and SE from CL002-075001- and two mound walls cross the interior E-W and WSW-ESE (Wth 2.5m; H 0.2-0.5m). The mound walls suggest the field system is likely of prehistoric date (cf. Plunket Dillon 1985; Jones, Carey and Hennigar 2011; Jones 2016). Three further enclosures (CL002-093---; CL002-094---- and CL002-095----) and a hut site (CL002-096----) lie c. 100m NE of the cashel at S. There are two other complex field-systems containing elements of potential antiquity in Rathborney Valley, CL002-030001- in the NW corner and CL002-033001- along the E side. Each of these also encompasses one or more enclosures or ringforts. These may once have extended across fertile valley floor, and essentially formed one or several interconnected field systems with CL002-075002-, but clearance and reorganisation of the fields between the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps and the inclusion of strip fields within these since the 1915 ed. have removed any visible trace.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maolduin

Date of upload: 14 December 2020

References

Jones, C. 2016 Dating ancient field walls in karst landscapes using differentil bedrock lowering. Geoarchaeology, 31 (2), 77-100.

Jones, C. 2019 Climate change and farming response in a temperate oceanic zone - the exploitation of a karstic region in Western Ireland in the third and second m illennia BC. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, online publication, https://doi.org/10.1080.15564894.2019.1614115.

Plunkett Dillon, E.C. 1985 The field boundaries of the Burren, County Clare. Unpublished PhD thesis, Trinity College, Dublin.