Ringfort, Hillswood, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Ringforts

Ringfort, Hillswood, Co. Galway

Beneath the rolling grassland of Hillswood in County Galway, a circular earthwork sits quietly unravelling.

What survives is a rath, roughly 35 metres in diameter, its defining bank broken in multiple places by cattle gaps knocked through over generations of agricultural use. Raths are ringforts of earthen construction, built during the early medieval period as enclosed farmsteads, and thousands of them once dotted the Irish countryside. This one has been worn down to the point where the enclosure is more implied than felt, the outline legible only if you are already looking for it.

The more intriguing feature lies within. Set into the western sector of the interior is a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber that would have been used for storage, refuge, or both. Souterrains are common companions to ringforts across Ireland, though their precise functions likely varied from site to site. Here, the underground element survives where the earthworks above ground have not, which gives the site a slightly inverted quality: the most durable part of it is the part you cannot readily see.

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Pete F
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