Ringfort (Rath), Grange More, Co. Westmeath
Co. Westmeath |
Ringforts
In the undulating pasture of Grange More in County Westmeath, a low circular earthwork sits on a gentle rise, quietly holding its ground while the landscape around it has moved on entirely.
The nearby Grange More House, roughly 260 metres to the south-east, has collapsed into ruin. The ringfort, by contrast, has simply worn down rather than fallen apart, which gives it a particular kind of stubborn presence.
A ringfort, or rath, is essentially a farmstead enclosed by earthen banks and ditches, a form of settlement that was widespread across Ireland during the early medieval period. This example, recorded in detail in 1980, measures approximately 36 metres in diameter and follows the classic pattern of an inner bank, an intervening fosse (a cut ditch), and an outer bank beyond that. The inner bank has been worn to a moderate scarp along much of its circuit, almost entirely levelled on the northern arc. The fosse, wide and shallow rather than deep and dramatic, remains visible from the south and west. The outer bank of earth and stone is low but still legible around the north-western and western stretches. No original entrance survives, which is not unusual; a gap at the north-north-east and another at the west both appear to be relatively modern intrusions rather than ancient access points. The interior is featureless and slopes irregularly toward the south-south-west. What makes the site quietly odd is that combination of gradual erasure on one side and relative preservation on the other, as though the monument has been slowly sinking into the field from the north downward. Aerial photography shows the earthwork still reading clearly as a circular form, partly edged by trees.