Ringfort (Rath), Lissaniska, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Ringforts
Just off the N5, within earshot of passing traffic and a few metres from a northward-flowing stream, a circular earthen bank rises out of wet pasture on the edge of Bohola in County Mayo.
It is a rath, the most common type of early medieval ringfort in Ireland, a raised enclosure defined by an earthen bank that would once have enclosed a farmstead or family compound. This one is quietly well-preserved, and its proximity to a busy road makes the contrast between the prehistoric and the present feel almost pointed.
The enclosure measures 32 metres across in both directions, making it a fairly typical example of its type. What distinguishes it structurally is the character of its bank. On the outside, it has been cut almost vertically, giving it an unusually sharp profile, and it remains consistently high around much of its circuit, between 1.8 and 2 metres externally. On the inside, however, the picture is uneven: the eastern arc retains considerable height, while the western half has been worn down nearly to a scarp, a low sloping edge rather than a proper bank. A shallow depression running around the outside, most visible on the western side, may be the remnant of a fosse, the ditch that would originally have reinforced the bank as a defensive or boundary feature. A gap of about one metre on the northeastern side might mark the original entrance, though cattle have also eroded several points around the circuit, so the question is genuinely open. The interior is fairly level, sloping only slightly toward the northeast, and the bank is now ringed with ash and sycamore trees, with a scattering of blackthorn within.