Enclosure in Gortnaleaha (trughanacmy By., Ballymacelligott Par.) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Enclosure in Gortnaleaha is a 71m diameter ring of earth on a slope above the Lee Valley, its bank still standing half a metre high on the north side while ploughing has flattened the rest into faint ripples. The view stretches south across Tralee Bay, suggesting whoever built it chose the ridge for watching weather, herds or visitors rather than hiding from them. A small mound sits inside the circle, perhaps a heap of stones or a forgotten hearth, but more likely just soil shifted by later hands. The enclosure does not need a dramatic story; it is a boundary drawn in earth, still readable after centuries of farming.

'Located in gently sloping land that rises to the north towards the upper slopes of the Stacks Mountains, this site affords excellent views to the south and south-west to the Sliabh Mis, Lee Valley and Tralee Bay. The site is located in land that has been reclaimed and improved but approximately 85% of the enclosing bank survives to some degree, only at the west is the bank almost completely levelled but even here it can be traced as a low undulation in the ground surface. To the south, the bank is partially preserved in the line of a field fence, to the east it is levelled but still visible as a slight undulation in the ground surface. The bank is best preserved to the north and north-west where it survives to a maximum width of 3m an external height of 0.7m and an internal height of 0.6. There are a number of small breaks in the surviving bank but it is unclear if they represent an original entrance. Internally the site is featureless but for a small mound like rise in the ground at south-west, this appears to be earthen, 5.9m in diameter and 0.38m in height. It may relate to disturbance rather than an original feature. There is no evidence for a ditch either internally or externally on the ground or on aerial photography. The site measures 71m in diameter.' Description from ‘The Prehistoric Settlement of the Lee Valley, Tralee, Co. Kerry; A Landscape Perspective’ by Michael Connolly. PhD Thesis UCC 2008 Date of upload: 03 July 2012

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