Ringfort (Rath), Ardacarha, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ardacarha, Co. Mayo

At Ardacarha in County Mayo, a large oval earthen platform rises from pastureland above a stream, its enclosing bank cut so sharply vertical on one side that it looks almost architectural, even though this near-perpendicular profile is almost certainly a later, agricultural modification rather than anything from the original construction.

This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the type of enclosed farmstead that was the standard unit of rural life in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Most were the homes of farming families of some local standing, the earthen bank and internal platform providing both a sense of enclosure and a degree of security for livestock and household alike.

The platform here measures 61.5 metres on its northeast to southwest axis and 47.5 metres across, making it a reasonably substantial example. The surrounding scarp, the steep outer face of the bank, reaches 3.5 metres in height at the north-northeast and southeast, dropping to around 1.5 metres on the western side. Stones protrude from the scarp face in places, hinting at some structural element within or beneath the earthwork. A low remnant of a fence or wall built from earth and stone, about a metre wide, still crosses the top of the scarp on the west side, oriented roughly north-northeast to south-southwest. Two low breaks in the bank, one at the east-northeast and one at the west, might represent the original entrance or entrances, though both have been worn and widened by cattle over time, leaving the question open. Inside, the ground slopes gradually downward from the northwest toward the west, and more noticeably toward the south and southeast, following the natural lie of the land toward the stream below.

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Pete F
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