Ringfort (Rath), Knockderk, Co. Limerick

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Knockderk, Co. Limerick

A post-1700 field laneway cuts right through this ringfort on the north-western slope of Derk Hill, bisecting what was once a complete enclosure and leaving the south-eastern quadrant of the interior truncated by later agricultural activity.

That kind of intrusion is not unusual for Irish ringforts, which were built in their thousands during the early medieval period and have been quietly absorbed, ploughed over, or built upon for centuries since. What makes this particular example worth attention is how much of it has, despite everything, survived, and how the surrounding landscape hints at a much denser pattern of early activity than the single earthwork alone suggests. A ringfort, or rath, was typically a circular or sub-circular enclosure defined by an earthen bank and sometimes a fosse, or external ditch, used as a farmstead and settlement unit in early medieval Ireland.

The rath sits on reclaimed pasture on a steep north-west facing slope, with the summit of Derk Hill, at 781 feet above datum, lying 180 metres to the south-east. When the Ordnance Survey produced its 25-inch map, the monument was recorded as a sub-circular platform measuring roughly 33 metres north-west to south-east and 29 metres north-east to south-west. By the time the Archaeological Survey of Ireland carried out a detailed ground survey in 2007, the visible dimensions had contracted considerably, with the surviving enclosed area measuring approximately 12.5 metres by 18 metres. The enclosing earthen bank is around 4 metres wide, with an internal height of about 1 metre, and there is a clear entrance gap at the north-west. The 1838 edition of the six-inch Ordnance Survey map shows that the field boundary cutting through the site was then a laneway leading to a building immediately north-east of the earthwork, a building that does not appear to predate 1700. The ringfort itself is not depicted on that earlier map, which may reflect its partial obscurity even then. Two other monuments lie close by: a possible burial mound 45 metres to the north-west and an enclosure 75 metres in the same direction, suggesting this hillside was a focus of activity across a considerable span of time. Two springs noted on the 25-inch map lie 18 metres to the south and 60 metres to the west-south-west.

For anyone wishing to locate the earthwork, orthophotography from 2005 to 2012 and a Google Earth image from March 2017 both show the enclosing bank most clearly when viewed from the south-west, west, north, and north-east arcs. From the east through to the south-south-west, the bank appears to have been levelled and is far less distinct. Possible traces of an external fosse are visible on aerial imagery, though these are not confirmed at ground level. The site sits within working agricultural land on a notably steep slope, so underfoot conditions will be rough, and access would require the landowner's permission. The entrance gap in the bank at the north-west is the most readable feature on the ground.

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Pete F
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