Enclosure, Parks, Co. Mayo

Co. Mayo |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Parks, Co. Mayo

On a rise of ground above Carrownacon Lough in County Mayo, there is nothing to see.

That, in a quiet way, is precisely the point. A circular enclosure once occupied this elevated position, recorded clearly on the Ordnance Survey map of 1838, but it has since been levelled entirely, leaving no visible surface traces. The land offers no clue that anything was ever there.

Circular enclosures of this kind are common across the Irish landscape and typically date from the early medieval period, though their functions varied considerably, ranging from agricultural enclosures protecting livestock to the enclosed settlements known as raths or ring-forts, where families lived within a raised earthen bank. Whatever this particular enclosure was built for, its position on high ground overlooking the lough to the west suggests it was deliberately placed to command a view across the water, a siting pattern seen repeatedly at similar sites elsewhere in Connacht. By the time the Ordnance Survey cartographers passed through in the 1830s, it was already reduced enough to be recorded as a simple circular outline rather than a standing feature. At some point after that, even that outline disappeared.

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Pete F
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