Ringfort (Rath), Higginstown, Co. Westmeath
Co. Westmeath |
Ringforts
A tree-lined ring rising from undulating Westmeath pasture, this earthwork at Higginstown sits on a natural rise with open views sweeping from south-west through north to south-east, the kind of vantage point that made it worth building on in the first place.
What survives is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, which was the standard form of enclosed farmstead in early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of one or more earthen banks surrounding a central living area. This one is more elaborate than many: it was laid out with an inner bank, an intervening fosse (a ditch), and an outer bank, giving it the double-enclosure arrangement associated with higher-status settlements.
When the monument was formally described between 1970 and 1972, it measured roughly 45 metres on its north-northeast to south-southwest axis and just under 40 metres on its west-northwest to east-southeast axis, making it a reasonably substantial example of the type. The bank survives best along the south-west to north-northeast arc, though it carries several gaps, and the fosse along that same stretch is notably well defined, narrow, steep-sided, and flat-bottomed. The outer bank is more fragmentary, preserved mainly at the north-east. The southern portion has fared less well: a field boundary cuts across the monument from north-east to south-west, and there are signs of quarrying on the exterior of the bank at the south, the kind of opportunistic stone or earth removal that has damaged countless similar sites across the Irish countryside. The original entrance has been lost entirely. One detail that often goes unremarked in ringforts is the interior topography; here, the ground rises slightly from the perimeter inward toward the centre, a subtle but characteristic feature that would have helped with drainage around any structures once standing inside.