Laheen Limestone-Terrace Enclosure

Located on a level terrace towards the base of a NNE-facing ridge slope, overlooking a flat-based, boggy valley. There are three lakes, Lough Laheen, Lough Gorman and Lough Tullaghevlin, within a few hundred meters of the enclosure, located at the W, N, and SE ends of the valley, respectively. At its SE edge, c. 50m from the enclosure, the terrace gives way to an escarpment of exposed limestone which extends to SE, and shows evidence of quarrying. The enclosure consists of a circular area (24m N–S; 24m E–W) defined by remnants of a stone wall. The wall is evident as a low, moss-covered rise (Wth c. 2.5m; H 0.2m) with large stones protruding on the outer edge at E–S. At N–NE the wall has a pronounced internal scarp which gives the enclosure a slightly sunken or saucer-shaped profile. The SE quadrant of the interior feels stonier underfoot, and a slight undulation traversing the SE quadrant, on a NE–SW axis, may be an internal division or possibly just a line of bedrock. A later drystone field wall, on a roughly N–S axis, crosses the enclosure at SW–NW, overlying the inner edge of the enclosing wall, and partly respecting its curve. Located 6m to S of the enclosure, there is a square structure (3.8m E–W; 4m N–S) defined by a low, sod-covered stony bank (Wth 0.6m; H 0.2-0.3m), possibly remnants of a vernacular building or house. Traces of a second roughly square structure (c. 3.6 E–W; 3.6m N–S) are located 4.4m to E bordered on the E side by a limestone scarp. Attached images: DG103-096----_01.JPG viewed from N DG103-096----_02.JPG viewed from S Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 27 November 2015