Cliff-edge fort, Moneymohill, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Forts
Most ringforts in Ireland rely on a continuous earthen bank to define their perimeter, but the one at Moneymohill in County Limerick takes a more economical approach.
Roughly half of its boundary is formed not by any built element at all, but by a near-vertical cliff face dropping about six metres to the west bank of a stream below. The builders, it seems, recognised that nature had already done part of the work.
The enclosure was recorded and compiled by Denis Power, with notes uploaded in August 2011. It sits in gently undulating pasture on the western side of the stream, and measures approximately twenty metres north to south and twenty-one and a half metres east to west, making it a modest but reasonably proportioned example of its type. A ringfort, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a roughly circular enclosure defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches, most commonly associated with early medieval farmsteads in Ireland. Here, the earthen bank survives along the eastern to south-western arc, standing about one metre five on its outer face and around forty-five centimetres internally. From the south-east around to the north, the enclosure is instead defined by a scarped edge, a deliberately cut slope about one metre ten high and one metre wide. Then, from north around to the south-east, the cliff edge takes over entirely. The ground beyond the landward side rises sharply, which would have added further natural defensibility. Inside, the ground is level and grassed over, though it grows uneven towards the top of the scarp. One further detail catches the attention: a very similar enclosure lies directly across the stream to the north-east, suggesting that whatever activity took place here, it may not have been isolated.
The site lies in pastureland, so access will depend on landowner permission, and as with most earthworks in Irish fields, stout footwear and an eye for soft ground are advisable. The stream and its cut bank are the clearest landmarks to orient yourself by. Once there, it is worth walking the full circuit of the perimeter to appreciate how deliberately the different boundary elements, bank, scarp, and cliff, work together. Looking across the stream to the north-east, the companion enclosure recorded as LI018-064 can apparently be made out, which raises its own quiet questions about why two such sites would face each other across the same watercourse.