Ringfort (Rath), Lissaniska, Co. Galway

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lissaniska, Co. Galway

Sitting on a rise in hilly pastureland in Lissaniska, this subcircular ringfort is one of those sites that rewards close attention rather than a casual glance.

What makes it quietly unusual is its layered defensive architecture: rather than a single bank and ditch, it presents an inner scarp, two earthen banks, and two fosses, one inside the other, arranged concentrically around an enclosed interior. A rath of this kind, the general term for an earthen ringfort typically used as a farmstead enclosure in early medieval Ireland, was a statement of status as much as a practical barrier, and a double-banked example suggests its occupants were people of some local importance.

The monument measures roughly 32 metres east to west and 30 metres north to south, placing it in the middle range for sites of this type. It survives in fair condition, though not uniformly. The inner bank is the best-preserved element, clearly readable for most of its circuit, except between the south-west and north where it has been dug into at some point. The outer bank has fared worse, surviving only on the southern side. The inner fosse, the ditch immediately inside the outer bank, remains visible all the way round, while the outer fosse can only be traced from the north around to the south-east and again briefly at the south. Cattle gaps cut through the middle bank at the north-north-west and south-south-east, the practical accommodation of a working farm landscape over many centuries. Perhaps most intriguing is the local tradition of a souterrain within the interior. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, typically built during the early medieval period for storage or as a place of refuge, and their presence within ringforts is well attested across Ireland, though they are not always visible at the surface.

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