Ringfort (Rath), Carrowclogh, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Ringforts
In the low-lying pastureland of Carrowclogh, in County Galway, there is a ringfort that no longer exists in any visible sense.
The ground overhead gives nothing away; no bank, no ditch, no grassy ridge to catch the eye. What remains is purely a classification, preserved in the archaeological record long after the earthwork itself dissolved back into the field.
A ringfort, or rath, was typically a circular enclosure defined by an earthen bank and ditch, used during the early medieval period as a farmstead or place of habitation. This particular example was catalogued by McCaffrey in 1952, who recorded it as a circular earthen fort with a diameter of approximately 28 metres. Even at that point, it was described as very much denuded, meaning the original bank had eroded so severely that the site was already nearly imperceptible at ground level. Since then, whatever remained has continued to fade, and today no visible surface trace survives at all.