Ringfort (Rath), Ballymacadam, Co. Tipperary

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ballymacadam, Co. Tipperary

On a south-facing slope in Ballymacadam, Co. Tipperary, a circular rise in a grassy field marks the remains of a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, those enclosed farmstead settlements built predominantly during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries.

The outline is still readable, a raised platform roughly fifty metres across and about a metre in height, sitting on what appears to have been a natural hillock along a ridge in gently rolling countryside. The elevation was almost certainly deliberate; a slight commanding position above the surrounding terrain would have suited both the practical and social needs of whoever farmed and lived here over a thousand years ago.

The site has not come through the centuries entirely unscathed. The monument has been levelled to some degree, and the eastern side of the interior shows a reduction in the scarp, likely the result of repeated tractor access flattening the edge over time. A field bank with stone revetment, meaning stonework used to face and support the bank, survives along the top of the northern quadrant. Inside the enclosure, faint traces of a former feeding trough are visible in the north-east quadrant, a reminder that the site passed through a long period of agricultural use after its original purpose was forgotten. The monument is protected under a preservation order, originally made in 1955, which at least gives it some formal recognition against further disturbance.

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Pete F
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