Hilltop enclosure in An Comar

In rough upland pasture, located towards the W end of a broad, steep-sloped E-W spur of the Partry/Maumtrasna Mountains, which projects bluntly eastwards into the SW end of Lough Mask, and overlooks to S the county boundary between Mayo and Galway. The hilltop enclosure encompasses a broad, subrectangular rocky knoll, which is located on a hidden terrace on the spur. The terrace is backed on its N side by a steeply rising slope, and bordered on its S edge by a naturally raised bedrock rim from which ground falls steeply in a series of terraces into a glacial valley. To E, views are restricted by steep rising hill slopes; to W ground falls away gradually providing an easy access route to the enclosure, as well as open views into the deep, steep-sided valley of Lough Nafooey. Also to W there is access to natural routeways through the Partry/Maumturk Mountain ranges. This hilltop enclosure consists of a subrectangular area (80m N–S; 60m E–W) defined by a ruined drystone wall (Wth c. 2m; H 0.4-0.6m). It encompasses the full width and length of a roughly rectangular-shaped rocky knoll/elevation, which rises in irregular undulations from the terrace. The circuit of the wall follows the perimeter contours of the knoll, mirroring its undulations and incorporating its rocky protrusions. The wall appears to have been c. 2m in width originally; it is evident now as a low, largely sod-covered, tumbled stone bank (Wth 2-2.5m). It incorporates large stones and boulders, some of which served as an inner and outer facing to hold the rubble core of the wall. The wall can be traced for most of its circuit; there are breaks at SW and N where rock outcropping made walling unnecessary; a short section of the wall at NNE is missing, and at NE it is very ruined and barely discernible. The enclosure utilises the protective advantages of the knoll slopes, which vary in height around the circuit, dropping 2-3m to the surrounding terrace, with exposed bedrock faces in parts at SW, W, N and NE. At E-SE there is a much lower, gradual slope, with little difference between internal and external ground level. This hilltop enclosure is unusual in that the interior is sharply undulating and broken by extensive rock outcropping, with few level areas. A prominently raised area of exposed sloping bedrock dominates the N third of the interior. This drops steeply into a hollow in the NW of the interior, bordered on its S edge by another high rocky protrusion, part of an undulating bedrock band extending E–W across the centre of the enclosure, and which in turn drops to the only the significantly level area extending across the S–SE third of the interior. A N–S field wall (Wth 0.4m; H 0.8m) traverses the E half of the interior, and continues to N and S beyond the enclosure to intersect with other field walls. This wall differs in size and form from the hilltop enclosure wall, and clearly post-dates it. Regular rows of broad, flat-topped cultivation ridges, on an E-W axis, are evident immediately to E of this field wall, in the narrow level space between it and the wall of the hilltop enclosure. A few similar cultivation ridges, also on an E-W axis, are visible in the hollow in the NW of the interior, and in a small space immediately outside the enclosure at NE. Small, partly sod-covered heaps of stone, are dotted through the interior, several in the vicinity of the cultivation ridges at NW. The cultivation ridges within the hilltop enclosure appear somewhat larger and more regular in appearance, and may be later than cultivation ridges, mostly on a N–S axis, which can be seen in the extensive grid of relict subrectangular fields that traverse the terrace and slopes surrounding the hilltop enclosure. These field walls appear to be 18th/19th-century in date; many are recorded on the 1828 OS 6-inch map, and others appear on the 1929 edition. This monument was notified to NMS by Michael Gibbons. Attached images: MA120A010----_01.JPG Hilltop enclosure from NW. Yellow arrows outline circuit of enclosing wall; red arrow indicates later N-S field wall MA120A010----_02.JPG Enclosing wall at S MA120A010----_03.JPG Enclosing wall at E, with cultivation ridges in SE quadrant of interior MA120A010----_04.JPG Knoll/elevation which the hilltop enclosure utilises, viewed from W MA120A010----_05.JPG Location viewed from W Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 31 May 2019