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Ecclesiastical enclosure in Moor (clare By.)

Ecclesiastical enclosure

What is recorded here

Moor in Clare Bay holds a worn circular earthwork spanning two hundred metres, enclosing a stone-walled graveyard and church within level Galway grassland. A large limestone boulder still stands on the southern boundary, locally touched for sore eyes, while a nearby well may have drunk a forgotten village before field walls cut through the ancient line. The earth has softened the edges, but the shape remains clear enough to walk, marking a place where worship, memory and everyday survival once shared one small circle.
In level grassland. Poorly preserved subcircular enclosure (NW-SE 120m, NE-SW 116m) defined by a denuded earthen bank at NE and SE; elsewhere a scarp forms the enclosing element. An external fosse is present at NE and W. A gap at W could be original. A large limestone boulder, standing on the line of the enclosing element at S, is locally believed to have a cure for sore eyes. Field walls cut the monument at W and N. Within the interior is a rectilinear graveyard defined by a stone wall with small crenellated turrets at NE and SE corners. It contains a church (GA083-060001-). To SE of the graveyard is a well (GA083-060004-). According to local tradition, this provided the water supply for a village which once stood here. (CUCAP AYN 79) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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