Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located at the NW end of a low undulating ridge which borders the S side of a river. The enclosure is sited at the N-NE edge of the ridge where the slope falls away in a long steep drop to the river bank. The location provides good views over the surrounding hilly terrain, overshadowed to SE by the looming slopes of Benbulbin. It is indicated on the 1837 OS 6-inch map as a circular enclosure (c. 15-20m), bisected centrally on a roughly N−S axis by a field boundary, and shown on the 1912 edition as a semi-circular hachured arc (diam. c. 15m E−W), curving W−N−E, abutted at SE by field boundaries. It was listed in the SMR (1989) as ‘enclosure’. It was not listed in the RMP (1995) on the basis of a 1991 field report which recorded only a quarry hollow at the location. An inspected in 2016 confirmed that there is evidence of an enclosure. It consists of a circular area (diam. 13m NNE−SSW; 14.5m E−W) defined at SW−NE by a low scarp (Wth 0.5-0.6m), enhanced at N−NE (ext. H 0.7-0.8m; Wth slope 1.3m) by the ridge slope. At N−NE the scarp is topped by a very slight rise or bank (Wth 1m). The scarp is indistinct at NE−E. At ESE−S the circuit is defined by an arc of ruined drystone wall, evident as a tumbled heap (Wth 1.2-1.4m; H 0.3m) of loose stone. The S−SE arc of the enclosure cannot be traced. A roughly circular, now grassed-over, quarry pit (diam. 5.4m; D 0.5-0.8), with a shallower extension (Wth 2m) at SW, has destroyed the centre of the interior.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 17 February 2017