Field system in Glanlough South

Glan Lough lies at the head of one of the glaciated valleys cut deep into the N side of the central mountain ridge of the Dingle Peninsula. The head wall of the valley rises steeply to Knockbeg (1251 feet/381m) on the E and Knocknakilton (1398 feet/426m) on the W. The lower N portion of the valley is enclosed within the modern field boundary system, but in the S portion, surrounding the lake and extending for about a half-mile (.8km) to N of it, the terrain is open moorland covered with peat to a depth of up to 2m. Modern turf cutting in the area has exposed part of a field wall system that underlies the peat, constructed on the pre-peat ground surface. Six separate and widely-dispersed walls, roughly straight, and varying from a few metres to 75m in length, are visible, but it was not feasible on this occasion to trace the full extent of the system beneath the peat. The visible walls lie directly N of the lake within an area measuring roughly 300m x 400m. The overall layout of the system is not apparent. For the main part the walls survive only as bands of stone collapse, 1 to 3m wide, but low upright stones remain in situ in places, and at one point 3 to 4 courses of drystone masonry survive intact for a very short distance. The only other monuments recorded at this end of the valley are 2 modern sheep-folds and an isolated souterrain located about 300m to W (KE036-052----). The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 26. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 3 August 2013