Ringfort (Rath), Coologes, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Sitting on a low hillock above the valley of the Roughty River in south-west Kerry, this double-banked ringfort has been engineered with a quiet ingenuity that becomes apparent only when you start reading its proportions.
The interior platform has been deliberately raised 2.3 metres above the surrounding ground to compensate for the natural slope of the hill, effectively levelling the living space by building it up rather than cutting it down. That kind of deliberate earthworking is easy to walk past without noticing, which makes it one of the more interesting details a ringfort of this type can offer.
Ringforts, also called raths, were the predominant settlement form in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth century and serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family or small community. This example is defined by two concentric earthen banks separated by a fosse, which is a broad, shallow ditch. The inner bank is substantial, some 7.1 metres wide and rising nearly five metres on its outer face, and it is reinforced on the inside by a drystone revetment wall, a facing of unmortared stone used to hold the earth in place and prevent slippage. That wall is now heavily overgrown with trees and bushes. The intervening fosse, about 1.6 metres wide, remains visible around the full circuit. The outer bank survives only intermittently. A causeway entrance 2.6 metres wide opens at the south, which is a common orientation for ringfort entrances, possibly reflecting an association with sunlight or prevailing conditions. Recorded within the enclosure is a souterrain, an underground passage or chamber of dry-laid stone construction, typically used in early medieval Ireland for cool storage or as a place of refuge.