Ringfort (Rath), Foilacamin, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Foilacamin, Co. Tipperary

A natural watercourse doing the work of a defensive ditch is not something you encounter every day.

At this ringfort on the slopes of the Slieveardagh hills in County Tipperary, a stream runs downhill and feeds directly into the outer fosse at the north-east, tracing the monument's perimeter from north-east through north and around to the west before draining away downslope. The effect is a wet, living boundary, and surveyors have noted the same arrangement at other ringforts in the Slieveardagh hills, suggesting it was a deliberate and repeated choice rather than a coincidence of terrain.

Ringforts, sometimes called raths, were the most common form of enclosed settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the sixth to the twelfth century. They functioned as farmsteads, with the enclosing bank and fosse providing security for a household and its livestock rather than any large-scale military defence. This example sits on a north-west-facing slope with open views across a wide arc from west through north to east, and higher ground rising to the south. The circular platform at its centre measures approximately 45 metres in diameter, enclosed by an earth and stone bank some five metres wide at its base. A possible original entrance gap, about five metres wide, survives at the south-east, and a later cattle gap of around one and a half metres has been cut into the bank at the north-east, the kind of practical modification that farmers made to ancient enclosures long after their original purpose was forgotten.

The site is, by any honest account, extremely difficult to examine. Mature trees and dense thorn bushes cover the monument so thoroughly that only the bank and outer fosse between the north-east and east could be assessed at close range; the rest is effectively impenetrable. That inaccessibility is itself telling. Many ringforts survive precisely because the ground they occupy has been left alone, too awkward or too overgrown to be cleared and cultivated. The stream, the thorns, and the trees have, between them, kept this one largely to itself.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort (Rath), Foilacamin, Co. Tipperary. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement