Field system, Farranyharpy, Co. Sligo

Co. Sligo |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Field system, Farranyharpy, Co. Sligo

In a level field in Farranyharpy, County Sligo, a series of low earthen banks barely interrupts the pasture.

Easy to overlook entirely, these slight ridges of earth and stone are the remains of an ancient field system, a relict landscape that has quietly persisted while the farming world around it was remade many times over. The banks stand no more than 0.3 metres high and stretch a couple of metres across at their widest, modest dimensions that belie the organisational effort they once represented.

The system sits to the east of a rath, a ringfort of the kind built across Ireland roughly between the early medieval period and the Norman arrival, typically serving as a defended farmstead enclosure for a family and their livestock. The proximity of the field banks to this rath is suggestive: together they hint at a working agricultural landscape, the fort and its surrounding managed land once forming a coherent unit. The field banks themselves connect in a rough network of intersecting alignments. One bank runs from the eastern side of the rath for about 30 metres to the north-east, where it meets a second bank running on a north-west to south-east axis. That second bank extends roughly 45 metres to the south-east and about 90 metres to the north-west, where it in turn meets a third bank running broadly east to west for approximately 70 metres, following the natural lie of the ground before it is cut short by a modern north-south road. The road's intrusion is a small, mundane reminder of how much of this kind of evidence has simply been driven through or ploughed away across the country.

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 Field system, Farranyharpy, Co. Sligo. 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