Field system in Baile An Lochaigh

Com an Lochaigh is a valley cut deep into the W side of the Brandon mountain range, its broad floor enclosed to E, N and S by steep, scree-strewn slopes which rise to a maximum height of 2764 feet (842m) at Brandon Peak, and which gradually decrease towards the entrance to the valley c. 2 miles (3.2km) further W. The peat bog that covers much of the valley floor is up to 2m deep in places and was formerly even deeper according to local information. Apart from providing fuel for local use, the valley is now used only as rough pasture for sheep. However, numerous disused field walls, only some of which are shown on the OS maps, can be seen on the bog surface and on the lower slopes of the valley sides. Scattered amongst these are a large number of sheep-folds, sheep-shelters and huts, and the ruins of 3 or 4 houses occur near the head of the valley. Most of these features probably relate to post-medieval settlement in the valley. Modern peat cutting has revealed 2 features of particular interest. On the S side of the Feohanagh river, about midway along the valley, numerous tree stumps have been revealed, indicating a landscape in earlier times quite different from the present open moorland. On the N side of the river, between it and the steep, scree-strewn mountain slopes, the removal of the peat has revealed a series of stone walls which, though the peat has nowhere been completely cut away, appear to have been constructed on the underlying mineral soil. The remains extend roughly NE-SW, following the line of the valley floor, and cover an area c. 450m NE-SW x c. 150m NW-SE. The walls occur in 2 groups, the larger group occupying the SW half of the area, extending for a total distance of c. 250m, the smaller group, at the NE end of the area, consisting of only a few short walls. Between the 2 groups the peat cover is negligible, and the walls visible here appear to relate to the later settlement in the valley. In the SW area, long stretches of interconnecting walls have been traced, but no fully enclosed fields were noted. The peat here is up to 2m deep but generally much less; the walls, where they disappear under peat cuttings, are nowhere overlain by more than a .6m depth of peat and are themselves up to .9m in height. The walls at the NE end of the area have been revealed by turf cutting within the more recent field enclosure that surrounds an abandoned dwelling-house. About 25m to S of the house, the peat has been cut away right up to the wall of a clochaun (a), and 3 pre-bog walls disappear into the cutting and apparently under the hut; another wall is visible c. 25m SE of the clochaun. Other hut sites and sheep-folds also occur within the area occupied by the pre-bog walls, but most, or perhaps all, of these are of fairly recent date. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 23. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 3 August 2013