Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

On a rise in grassland. Marked on OS 6-inch maps as a circular enclosure with a number of buildings along the enclosing element at N. Classified by Neary (1914, 116, no. 89) as a rath defined by a massive 'rampart' and known locally as 'House Fort'. Apart from a very faint circular platform (D 27m), no visible surface trace survives. Neary (ibid.) noted the ruin of an old building on the 'rampart' at N which was indicated by a stretch of wall '4 ft. thick, 8 high and 24 ft. in width [Wth 1.2m, H 2.4m, L 7.3m]. It lay E. by W'. He suggested that it may have been an old De Burgo dwelling. No trace of this structure survives. Neary (ibid.) also refers to an 'obelisk' with a 'grave' on N side of it with 'five quern-stones arranged on it' in the interior of the monument. This is probably the 'Burial Vault' marked on 3rd ed. of OS 6-inch map (1932). It is dedicated to Anne Handcock and is dated 1818. Only one quernstone is now visible.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010