Ringfort (Rath), Cleedagh, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ringforts
What makes this ringfort in Cleedagh quietly unusual is not its size or its setting alone, but the fact that it sits roughly forty metres from another rath of the same type.
Paired or clustered ringforts are known elsewhere in Ireland, but they remain relatively uncommon, and their proximity here on a low west-facing hill in County Kerry invites the obvious question of whether the two were ever in use at the same time, or by related communities.
A rath is an early medieval enclosure, typically dating from somewhere between the sixth and twelfth centuries, formed by one or more earthen banks and ditches and used as a farmstead or defended homestead. This example measures approximately fifty-four metres across its east-west axis and is defined by two concentric earthen banks with a shallow intervening fosse, the term for the ditch between them. The inner bank, which stands to about 1.4 metres on its interior face and is constructed of earth and stone, retains stone facing on both its internal and external surfaces, suggesting a degree of care in its original construction. The outer bank is lower and survives only intermittently along the north and northeast arc. The whole sits in pasture now, and later field boundaries have grown up against the terminals of the inner bank at the northwest and east, meaning the landscape has gradually folded itself around the old structure rather than erasing it outright.