Ringfort (Rath), Tullybrick, Co. Cavan
Co. Cavan |
Ringforts
At Tullybrick in County Cavan, the ground itself tells a partial story.
A raised oval platform, roughly forty metres along its longer axis, sits enclosed by an earthen bank and a fosse, the fosse being a defensive ditch that would originally have reinforced the bank on its outer side. What makes this particular rath slightly unusual is the unevenness of its survival: the bank and ditch remain clearly legible on the south-south-west, west, and northern sides, but have been infilled elsewhere, leaving only a fragment of the original circuit visible to anyone walking the perimeter.
A rath, sometimes called a ringfort, was the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically enclosing a farmstead and its associated structures within a raised earthen boundary. Thousands were built across the country between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries, and County Cavan retains a significant number. At Tullybrick, a report compiled by the Office of Public Works in 1969 noted that the original entrance to the enclosure lay on the south-east side, a detail that would have had practical meaning for whoever lived and worked within it, orienting the household toward a particular approach across the surrounding land. That entrance is now gone from the visible record, absorbed into the general infilling that has muted much of the site's original profile.