Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

This much denuded stone enclosure, marked as a subcircular field on the first edition of the OS map, is located on the crest of a low knoll at the head of the Inny river valley. A lengthy view along the valley is held to W. The ruined enclosing element survives 1.3m high externally at S. The wall is composed of a rubble core faced internally and externally with coursed drystone masonry. Some upright slabs, and slabs set on edge, line the external wall-face. The wall has an average thickness of 1.3m and falls .6m to the interior. The site is riddled with badger burrows, and a lintel-like slab has been exposed in the wall at NW. This may mark the entrance to a souterrain (KE081-042001-). The original entrance to the enclosure appears to be represented by a 1.4m wide gap in the wall at W. A series of E-W cultivation ridges occupy the interior of the site, which measures 11.4m N-S x 14.3m E-W.
A number of walls, similar in composition to the site's enclosing element, radiate from its external face and appear to be coeval with it.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 763. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 29 July 2013