What is recorded here

Half a kilometre from nowhere in County Limerick, a broken ring of earth still holds its shape beneath mature trees. The northern, eastern and western banks rise barely seventy centimetres above the pasture, yet their scarped edges and three wide gaps suggest a place meant to be entered, seen and remembered. A quern stone once lay twenty metres south-east, torn free during reclamation and carried to Dublin. The enclosure itself has given up no such clean treasure. It keeps its measurements, its shadows and its company with a ringfort and possible cooking pit nearby. What it kept inside remains unknown.

In pasture on a slight S-facing slope, with excellent views to the NE, N and W, poorer views to higher ground to the S and E. The townland boundary between Ballygeale and Liskilly curves around the external N and W edge of the site. A potential fulacht fia site (LI021-176----) is located 150m SE and a ringfort (LI021-153---) 200m to NE. Depicted on the 1840 OSi 6-inch map as a large fort (diam. c. 100m) with a small house or cabin located 4m outside the NW rampart and on the later OSi 1897 25-inch map OSi map as a sub-rectangular embanked enclosure (ext. diam. 72m N-S; 83m E-W). The site was inspected in 2000 by ASI and described as a raised roughly rectangular area defined by an earthen bank with scarped edges. The interior of the enclosure (int. diam. 42m N-S; 59m E-W) undulates and field clearance debris has been deposited within the S half of the site. The N, E and W enclosure bank survives (Wth 8.1m; H int. 0.5m; ext. 0.7m) and is covered in mature trees, the southern enclosure boundary is defined by a tree lined scarped edge. Entrances into the enclosure are located in the N bank (Wth 12m), E bank (Wth 7m) and SE bank (Wth 12m). No external fosse evident. A quern stone was discovered 20m SE of the enclosure during land reclamation (now in the National Museum of Ireland). The site is visible on Google Earth orthophotos taken 28/06/2018 and 14/02/2020. See attached sketch plan surveyed and drawn by the ASI and Google Earth orthoimages. Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 11 August 2020

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