The rath at Lisbaun in County Mayo is one such site, a circular earthwork enclosure whose particular story has not yet been set down in any publicly accessible record. That anonymity is itself worth pausing on.

Ringforts, known variously as raths or lios depending on local tradition, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, built roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. A typical example consisted of a raised circular area enclosed by one or more earthen banks and ditches, forming a defended farmstead for a family of some local standing. The enclosing bank, or in some cases a stone wall known as a cashel, provided security for livestock as much as for people. The place-name Lisbaun itself offers a quiet clue to the site's past; "lis" derives from the Irish word for a fort enclosure, and "baun" or "bán" generally means white or pale, suggesting perhaps a whitewashed stone feature, a distinctive soil colour, or simply a descriptive marker that made this particular fort memorable to those who named it.