Ringfort (Rath), Moanmore, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Ringforts
A small earthwork sitting on a gentle rise in the pastureland of Moanmore carries a quiet puzzle in its name.
The Ordnance Survey six-inch maps record a mixed tree plantation immediately to its south-west, labelled 'Ring Grove', though the trees have since been cleared and the ground returned to open farmland. Whether the grove took its name from the ancient enclosure beside it, or whether the planting itself once helped define the site's boundary, is now difficult to say. That ambiguity is part of what makes this unassuming field monument worth a second look.
The structure is a rath, the Irish term for a roughly circular earthen enclosure, typically dating from the early medieval period and most likely used as a farmstead. This particular example is subcircular in shape, measuring approximately 37.4 metres on its north-east to south-west axis. Its defining feature is an inner bank, around 1.9 metres wide and standing up to 1.5 metres above the exterior ground level, with traces of a fosse, the surrounding ditch from which the bank material was originally dug, still detectable along part of its circuit. A possible outer bank survives from the south-west around to the north-west, and it has been suggested this may relate to the old tree grove rather than to the original construction of the rath itself. The site is described as poorly preserved, so its earthworks have been significantly reduced over the centuries. Associated with the enclosure is a possible souterrain, an underground passage or chamber often found in early medieval settlements, used for storage or as a place of refuge.