Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

In commonage, located on a ridge on the NW side of a natural steep-sided basin of water-logged peat. Associated with the enclosure is a field system (MA085-037----) which extends N and W over the ridge, and there are two fulacht fia (MA085-007001-; MA085-007002-) over 50m to E in the bottom of the basin.
The enclosure consists of a roughly circular area (diam. 25m) defined by a low wall (Wth 0.8m; H 0.4m) of loosely piled stones and boulders. A boundary wall of large angular boulders, part of the field system (MA085-037----), merges with the enclosure wall at the SW. The enclosure was partly excavated (94E156) in 1994 and 1995 (King 2007, 267-289). Three trenches were opened, two in the interior, and one on the perimeter at the SW, with the aim of dating the enclosure, examining its construction, and also determining the relationship between the enclosure and the intersecting boundary wall. The excavation revealed that the enclosure wall was constructed in a shallow foundation trench (Wth c. 2m; D c. 0.4m). In the interior, stake holes and insubstantial stone features provided tentative evidence of internal structures, including a possible hearth. The finds included worked flakes of flint, chert and quartz, and the butt of a polished stone axe or hammer. The quantity of charcoal recovered was insufficient to allow conventional radiocarbon dating, but the finds point to a Bronze Age date. The excavation also established that the field wall (Wth 1m; max. H 0.5m), which was also constructed in a shallow foundation trench, predated the construction of the enclosure. (King 2007, 267-289).

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 7 September 2018

References

King, P. 2007 The archaeological excavation of an enclosure (Cat. No. 76), a boundary wall (Cat. No. 192) and a fulacht fia (Cat. No. 57) at Lecarrow. In Gosling, Manning and Waddell (eds.) 2007 New Survey of Clare Island, Volume 5: Archaeology, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 267-289.