What is recorded here

Enclosure in Blessington is a circular rath at the NW base of Saddle Hill, preserved in County Kilkenny and first mapped as a bare field in 1839. By 1900 a boundary had closed its north-west gap, suggesting people still recognised the shape even when stone or turf had slipped from sight. The river runs fifty metres south, carrying rain and memory eastward past grass, scrub and the quiet claim of a place set apart.

At the NW base of Saddle Hill with a river c. 50m to the S, flowing eastward. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 4, 274), In Mr. Sheehy’s land, in Blessington, is a great “raw,” or rath [KK028-036----] … East of this, at the base of Saddle Hill, and also in Mr. Sheehy’s land, is another very large circular “raw.”. It is indicated as a roughly circular field (diam. c. 66m) on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map with no enclosing element in the NW quadrant. On the later 1900-01 revision a field boundary is indicated running NE-SW across the perimeter of the NW quadrant. On satellite imagery (Digitalglobe 2011-13, accessed 8 March 2022) the enclosure is visible as a small grass-covered field with trees and scrub growing on the enclosing element. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 8 March 2022

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