Ringfort (Rath), Ballynacor, Co. Westmeath
Co. Westmeath |
Ringforts
One of the more quietly telling facts about this earthwork near the River Deel is that it does not appear on any edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch maps, the standard historical record through which countless Irish field monuments were first formally documented.
That absence does not mean the site was unknown locally, but it does suggest it was never classified, labelled, or given the administrative weight that usually accompanies such features on the Irish landscape.
The site sits on a low natural rise on reclaimed grassland east of the River Deel in County Westmeath. It takes the form of a rath, the Irish term for a roughly circular earthen enclosure, typically dating to the early medieval period and used as a farmstead or high-status dwelling. Here, a wide, low earthen bank defines the perimeter, accompanied by an external fosse, which is the ditch from which the bank material was originally dug. On the south-west and west sides the bank has been reduced to a scarp, a sloped face in the ground rather than a raised bank, while the north and north-east edges rely on a natural slope rather than any constructed element. What gives the site particular interest is the annexe attached to its northern side, a sub-circular enclosure approximately thirty metres in diameter. Rather than a simple addition, it contains a double bank with an intervening fosse running through its interior, along with low stony mounds whose function is not specified. Annexes of this kind are sometimes associated with animal enclosures or secondary activity areas, though the detail here resists easy interpretation.