Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

First identified in an unpublished archaeological LiDAR report (Davis, 2015) commissioned by Roscommon County Council as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the N5 Ballaghaderreen - Scramoge road development. It is situated in mixed woodland on a slight W-facing slope in a fairly level landscape. It is at the centre of the tree-ring enclosure, now in mixed woodland, depicted on the 1836 and 1914 eds of the OS 6-inch map. This is a circular area (int. diam. 13m N-S; 12m E-W) defined by an earthen bank (at W: Wth 3.2m; int. H 0.4m; ext. H 0.5m) and outer fosse (at W: Wth of top 2.4m; ext. D 0.2m). There is no identifiable original entrance.
This feature is separated by a berm (Wth 26m at SW to 30m at NE) from an outer bank (at W: Wth 3.6m int. H 0.4m; ext. H 1m) and outer ditch (at W: Wth of top 2.2m; ext. D 0.25m), which forms the large tree-ring enclosure (diam. c. 75m). The large enclosure is mirrored by a similar one (RO016-166----) c. 600m to the E, both of which are likely to be tree-rings on the demesne of Mantua House, c. 750m to the NNE. However, the inner enclosure may be an unrelated and more ancient feature.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 5 August, 2016

References

Davis, S. 2015 N5 Strokestown - Ballaghderreen preferred route corridor: Lidar assessment. unpublished report for Roscommon County Council: UCD School of Archaeology