Enclosure, Clare, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Enclosures
In the townland of Clare in County Mayo, there sits a classified archaeological enclosure that has, so far, resisted easy description.
Enclosures of this kind are among the most common yet most quietly mysterious features of the Irish landscape. The term covers a broad range of structures, from prehistoric ring-forts and early medieval farmsteads to later field boundaries, all sharing the basic characteristic of a defined, bounded space set apart from the surrounding land. What purpose any particular enclosure served, and when, often remains genuinely open to question, and Clare's example is no exception. The monument is recorded and protected, but the details that would place it in time or assign it a function have not yet been made publicly available.