What is recorded here

Enclosure in Killeeshal is a vanished nested complex in County Carlow where a large earthwork, smaller ringfort, possible tiny enclosure and square moated site overlapped before levelling erased them. A sixth or seventh-century terminal and a fourteenth or fifteenth-century pendant suggest the place remained inhabited across centuries, perhaps as a domestic or ceremonial centre rather than a single fortress. What is gone can still be imagined: people moving between rings, working fields, marking ownership or refuge, while the land kept their shape long after they stopped living there.

The following description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Carlow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 8 July 2011 Revised by: Claire Breen Aerial photographs (CUCAP BGH 36, 37) show complex of earthworks consisting of large enclosure (CW007-042004-) (est max. diam. c. 100m) marked on 1938-9 OS 6-inch map, enclosing at N smaller circular enclosure (CW007-042002-), probably a ringfort (est max. diam. c. 30m) and traces of what may be a much smaller circular enclosure (CW007-042003-) (est max. diam. c 15m) to E of ringfort and between ringfort and bank of large enclosure. At S, large enclosure is overlain by approximately square enclosure (CW007-042001-) with fosse and bank (est max. dims. c 40m N-S x 40m E-W), probably moated site (also shown on 1938-9 OS 6-inch map). Aerial photograph (GB90.BE.07, 13 July 1990) shows cropmarks of a large enclosure (CW007-042005-) defined by a fosse attached to the S and E of the moated site (CW007-042001); also traces of a possible trackway and related field boundaries. Sixth/seventh-century terminal found at complex probably came from ringfort. Fourteenth/fifteenth-century pendant also found (NMI file). Complex has been levelled.

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