Ringfort (Rath), Drumloman, Co. Cavan

Co. Cavan |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Drumloman, Co. Cavan

At Drumloman in County Cavan, a wide, waterlogged ditch still circles an earthen enclosure that has been sitting quietly in its field for well over a thousand years.

The fosse, which is the ditch surrounding the raised interior, remains partially filled with water, which gives the site an unusually intact, slightly forbidding quality. Modern field boundaries have grown up around it, pressing close on all sides, yet the ringfort itself holds its shape with some authority.

A rath is an earthen ringfort, the most common type of early medieval enclosure in Ireland, typically associated with a single farmstead and its associated settlement activity. This example at Drumloman is on the larger side, with an internal diameter of roughly 46 metres, and the earthen bank enclosing it is described as very substantial. The original entrance survives at the south-east, marked by a break in the bank and a causeway crossing the fosse, which is precisely the kind of detail that tends to disappear from sites that have been disturbed or robbed over the centuries. Inside, two depressions have been noted. The one to the west is of unknown significance. The one to the north-east may indicate the former location of a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber that was commonly built within ringforts for storage or refuge.

The partially waterlogged fosse is worth paying attention to when approaching the site. That standing water is part of why the earthworks have survived so well; it suggests the ditch was designed to hold water, functioning as a wet boundary rather than merely a symbolic one. The two internal depressions, unremarkable to look at, are the site's quiet puzzles.

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