Ringfort (Rath), Dromkeen, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ringforts
In a corner of a field in Dromkeen, County Kerry, the remains of an early medieval ringfort have been reduced to little more than a gentle curve in the earth.
A univallate rath, meaning a single-banked enclosure of the kind once common across Ireland as a farmstead or settlement boundary, this one survives only as an earthen arc bank running roughly 34 metres from west to south, rising to about a metre in height. A modern field boundary has cut through the eastern side, and the northern sector has been almost entirely levelled, persisting now only as a faint rise in the ground. On the exterior western side, a shallow fosse, the defensive ditch that would once have reinforced the bank, can still be traced for around 20 metres; it measures roughly 4 metres wide but barely half a metre deep. Inside the enclosure, towards the east, there is a small oblong mound measuring 4 metres by 1 metre, the purpose of which is not recorded.
Raths of this type were built in their thousands across Ireland during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, serving as enclosed farmsteads for families of varying social rank. This one at Dromkeen was documented as part of the North Kerry Archaeological Survey, published in 1995 by C. Toal, which catalogued sites across the region at a time when many were already showing signs of serious deterioration. The combination of agricultural activity, including the field boundary that now bisects the eastern side, and simple levelling over generations, has brought this particular site to the edge of invisibility.