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Enclosure in Gowlaun

Enclosure
Enclosure in Gowlaun
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What is recorded here

Gowlaun holds a broad D-shaped earthen platform beside a cashel and rath, marking one of many occupied generations across the Clare landscape. Its steep scarped edge still carries fragments of limestone drystone revetting, while two hollows pierce the rocky floor like forgotten rooms. One hollow contains scattered slabs and boulders that may belong to a collapsed passage or merely cleared field debris. The enclosure does not need a dramatic story because its shape, neighbours and enduring presence already record human life repeated across centuries.
In undulating pastureland and outcropping limestone, with higher ground to the SE, within an extensive multiperiod field system (CL009-001001-). This enclosure is defined by a roughly D-shaped steeply scarped earthen platform (31.7m E-W; H 0.55-0.9m) with a straight NW side (L c. 33m) consisting of a modern field wall. The field to the N of this wall has been quarried. Intermittent stretches of limestone drystone revetting (two/three courses high) are visible on the scarp face from SSE-W. The perimeter is overgrown from ENE-E. Two hollows (D 0.5m) are visible in the uneven rocky interior. Limestone slabs and boulders in the base of the larger hollow (7m NE-SW; 2m NW-SE) are suggestive of a possible collapsed Man-made underground passage but may be field clearance. There is a cashel (CL008-045008-) c. 68m to the NE, and a rath (CL008-045006-) c. 86m to the SSW. The following image has been uploaded: CL008-045007-_01.jpg View from SW Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 5 October 2022

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What survives
Recorded monument

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