The tree-ring at Rathmore, in County Galway, belongs to a tradition of ornamental planting that was common on the estates of landed families from the eighteenth century onwards, when the layout of grounds was considered as carefully as the architecture of the house itself. These rings, sometimes planted on low rises or earthworks, served as visual anchors in a designed landscape, drawing the eye across open parkland and signalling, with quiet confidence, that someone had shaped this ground with intention.