The one at Balrath in County Westmeath announces itself differently. It sits on a low, rock-strewn hillock, its interior rising toward the centre and broken up by large boulders that push through the ground, giving the enclosed space an almost cluttered, geological character rather than the neat domestic impression you might expect.

A rath, to use the Irish term, is a type of early medieval farmstead, typically enclosed by an earthen bank and, in many cases, a shallow external ditch known as a fosse. This example is substantial: roughly 44 metres north to south and 42 metres east to west, enclosed by a bank of earth and stone with a fosse running outside it. The entrance, a gap about 2.4 metres wide, faces southeast, a common orientation in Irish ringforts, possibly for practical reasons relating to prevailing winds and morning light. What makes this site more interesting than most is what survives inside. Two rectangular hut sites are still visible against the interior of the bank, one in the southeast quadrant and one in the northeast. These traces of actual structures within the enclosure, rather than just the enclosure itself, give a clearer sense of how such a place was actually used: a small agricultural settlement, its buildings tucked against the inner face of the bank for shelter, with open ground in between. The hillock setting would have offered clear sightlines in all directions, a practical advantage that was probably not coincidental.