Rathjordan, Rathjordan, Co. Limerick
In the townland of Rathjordan, County Limerick, a level pasture holds a quiet mystery between a stream to the west and a road to the east.
Rathjordan, Rathjordan, Co. Limerick
Though nothing remains visible on the surface today, this unremarkable field once contained what appears to have been a rectangular enclosure, roughly 60 metres east to west and 40 metres north to south, surrounded by earthen banks. The structure was significant enough to be recorded on the 1928 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, though by the time Denis Power compiled this information in November 2013, no trace could be found above ground.
The embanked enclosure would have been a substantial feature in the landscape when it was intact, its earthen walls defining a space about half the size of a football pitch. Such enclosures in Ireland often date from the medieval period or earlier, serving various purposes; from cattle enclosures and farmsteads to more defensive structures. The rectangular shape and modest size suggest it may have been agricultural in nature, perhaps a fortified farmstead or a cattle enclosure associated with early settlement in the area.
The disappearance of such monuments is not uncommon across the Irish countryside, where centuries of agricultural activity have gradually erased many earthworks that once dotted the landscape. What makes this site particularly intriguing is that it survived long enough to be mapped in detail in 1928, only to vanish completely within living memory. The pasture now shows no hint of its former occupants, leaving only the old maps as evidence that anything of significance once stood here.





