Enclosure in Levallyroe (costello By.)

In a pasture field, bordered at E and S by the junction of two roads. The terrain is gently undulating with a gradual fall of ground to S, and slight dip to N, with a wettish, rush-grown area at NW. Shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch maps as a sub-rectangular field, with a rectangular house at the W corner, and bordered on the S and NE sides by roads; not shown on later map editions. Knox (1911, 319-321) published a sketch plan and described a low trapezoidal platform defined by scarps, ‘enclosed by sides of which two are 85 [77m] and 88 yards [80m] long, and the third 58 yards [53m] from north to south’. The fourth side at NE measured 18 yards [16m]. There were slight traces of a shallow ditch in parts outside the enclosing scarp. Knox considered that it might have been a defensive work, with the scarps possibly ‘crowned by stockades or other defences.’ The remains consist of a grassy, slightly raised trapezoidal area defined by a partly levelled scarp (H 1.2m; Wth slope 3m) and at E and S by field fences bordered by the roads. The S side measures 72m; the NW side c. 60m; the short N side 18m; the E side 43m. The nature of this enclosure is uncertain; it appears to be simply the remains of an old field. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 11 November 2022