Ringfort (Rath), Listobit, Co. Longford

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Listobit, Co. Longford

There is a particular irony in a ringfort that has effectively erased itself.

At Listobit in County Longford, an early medieval enclosure once sat at the base of a south-facing slope in low-lying pasture, its circular earthworks legible enough in 1976 to be measured and recorded. Today, it has been levelled and is no longer visible at ground level, leaving behind only the coordinates and a description of something that no longer presents itself to the eye.

A rath, as ringforts of this earthen type are sometimes called, was typically a circular enclosure defined by a raised bank and, often, an outer ditch, used as a farmstead during the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. The example at Listobit was subcircular rather than perfectly round, measuring approximately 45 metres north to south and 40 metres east to west. A low bank of earth and stone formed the enclosing boundary, with fragmentary traces of a shallow external fosse, the ditch that would once have reinforced the bank as both a practical barrier and a marker of status. The original entrance faced east, which is a common orientation for such sites, broadly aligned with the rising sun. By the time a formal report was compiled in 1976, the fosse was already only partially traceable; at some point after that, the remainder was levelled entirely, most likely by agricultural activity.

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