Ringfort (Rath), Castleblagh, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Castleblagh, Co. Cork

Beneath a plantation of conifer trees in north Cork, a souterrain sits quietly in the northwest corner of a prehistoric ringfort, its entrance almost certainly obscured by root growth and shadow.

The ringfort itself has been pressed into agricultural service, its outer fosse, the defensive ditch that once ran around the outside of the earthen bank, now functioning as a drain for a nearby slurry pit. Cattle gaps have been cut through the bank at several points. The place is still recognisably ancient, but only just.

Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, are among the most common field monuments in Ireland, typically dating from the early medieval period, roughly 500 to 1200 AD. They were farmsteads rather than fortifications in any military sense, the enclosing bank and ditch providing security for livestock and a degree of social display. This particular example sits on a north-facing slope to the north of a farmyard and east of Philip's Wood, and measures 38 metres across on its north-south axis. The earthen bank still stands about 0.7 metres above the interior and 1.6 metres above the exterior ground level, with stone-facing preserved along its inner face to the north-northwest. The original entrance, a causewayed gap 4 metres wide through the northern bank, remains identifiable. The souterrain in the northwest quadrant is a further feature of interest; souterrains are underground stone-lined passages associated with ringforts, used variously for storage, refuge, or ventilation, and their presence at a site often suggests a settlement of some substance.

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