Ringfort (Rath), Kinturk Demesne, Co. Westmeath

Co. Westmeath |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Kinturk Demesne, Co. Westmeath

The Oldcastle Road in Kinturk Demesne does something quietly remarkable: it runs straight through the middle of a ringfort.

Not past it, not around it, but directly through the centre on an east-west axis, bisecting what was once a roughly circular enclosure with an interior diameter of approximately 45 metres. If you know to look, a slight rise in the road's surface marks the line of the levelled bank where the earthwork once crossed. On the northern side, a curving arc of the enclosing bank still stands; on the southern side, a modern bungalow sits on the footprint of what the bank once occupied. A walled garden, meanwhile, encloses what little survives of the southeastern quadrant, its faint earthen outline just visible inside the garden wall.

A ringfort, sometimes called a rath, is a type of enclosed farmstead common in early medieval Ireland, typically defined by one or more circular earthen banks with an external ditch, known as a fosse. This particular example was already in a damaged state when surveyors recorded it in 1975, with two separate reports noting that it was unusually large and considerably disturbed. One described the bank on the northeast side as still standing approximately 1.5 metres high at that time, with a shallow fosse visible outside it, while the northwest section had been almost entirely removed. A second report noted that the original entrance was no longer recognisable, and flagged a low, flat-topped circular mound on the eastern interior as probably modern. By the time of a later survey, the external fosse had disappeared entirely, and landscaping had further softened the bank's profile, reducing the upstanding section to an external height of around one metre. The 1837 Ordnance Survey six-inch map did not record the monument as an antiquity at all, showing the curving bank merely as a field boundary; it was only on the later 25-inch map that the full circular form was legible. The road itself, it turns out, marks the townland boundary between Townparks and Kinturk Demesne, meaning the ringfort was effectively divided not just physically but administratively.

The surviving bank, running from north to east with a chord of 37 metres and a base width of 10 metres, is the most legible part of what remains. The walled garden on the southern side of the road preserves a faint trace of the enclosing bank within it, suggesting the garden was laid out around or over an earthwork that was already ancient when the first Ordnance Survey teams arrived. The slight natural rise on which the ringfort was built, described in 1975 as a gentle westward slope with moderate views of the surrounding countryside, is still perceptible.

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), Kinturk Demesne, Co. Westmeath. 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