Henge in Garryard

The site comprises an almost circular area enclosed by a ditch bank and internal fosse and has a well-defined entrance feature. The site has external dimensions of 77.7m SE-NW and 74.9m NE-SW. A small portion of the NW of the monument is destroyed and cut off by a modern roadway, fieldbanks and a drainage ditch. The portion of the site in the NW field has been levelled and is today noticeable only by slight variations in vegetation, which presumably mark the one-time presence of the bank and internal fosse. Examination of the site's features are by necessity limited to the much larger portion of the site in the SE field. There is a quite pronounced outer ditch in the NE and SW sectors, but it does not appear clearly about the rest of the site. It varies in width between 1.8m and 4.2m and appears as a clearly defined if shallow depression enclosing the site. In the NE its deepest point is .45m below ground level and 1.45m below the top of the bank; in the SW it is .35m below ground level and 1.3m below the top of the bank. It is probable however that this ditch is not contemporaneous with the rest of the site. At the sectors where the ditch appears the bank has a terraced effect at its top and it is significant that this effect does not appear where the bank is not enclosed by the ditch; in all likelihood the field-builders augmented the height of the bank with material dug from the ditch. Apart from the destroyed portion of the site in the NW field, the bank is well preserved, high and wide. Excepting the sectors enclosed by the outer ditch, it is flat-topped. Where it is enclosed by the ditch there appears, as mentioned above, to be a more terraced effect. It ranges in width between 6.6m and 10.9m. At the NE sector it measures 1.4m above the outer ditch and 1.4m above the internal fosse. In the SW sector the picture is similar, where the bank measures 1.3m above the outer ditch and 1.1m above the internal fosse. The internal fosse is well-defined. It ranges in width between 6m-11.8m. In the SW sector its greatest depth is 1.1m below the top of the bank and .8m below the site's internal area. In the NE sector its greatest depth is 1.2m below the top of the bank and .8m below the interior. The entrance is a clearly defined gap 9.7m in width in the bank and internal fosse, allowing unimpeded entrance through the ESE. The interior of the site is somewhat higher in level than the surrounding farmland. The surface is uneven, but there are no surviving traces of archaeological features above ground level. It has dimensions of 40.4m (SE-NW) and 38m (NE-SW); the former dimension however does not take into account the portion destroyed at the NW of the site (Paddy O'Donovan, NMAJ 1985, 75-77). The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 99. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 2 August 2013