Enclosure, Kimego, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Enclosures
At Kimego in south-west Kerry, a small enclosure sits inside a larger D-shaped enclosure, an arrangement that immediately raises questions about purpose and sequence.
Nested enclosures of this kind are not unknown in the Irish archaeological landscape, but they remain relatively uncommon, and the relationship between the inner and outer boundaries, whether one preceded the other, whether they functioned together or represent entirely separate phases of activity, is rarely straightforward to untangle.
The outer boundary here takes a D-shape, a form that tends to follow natural contours such as a ridge edge or a stream bank, with the straight side often formed by some feature of the terrain rather than a deliberately constructed wall. Inside this sits the smaller enclosure, noted by O'Sullivan and Sheehan in their 1996 survey of south-west Kerry. Beyond that observation, the documentary record is spare. No date of construction, no associated finds, and no named historical figure are attached to the site, which leaves it in the company of the many early medieval or prehistoric enclosures across Munster that have been recorded but not yet fully investigated.