Ringfort (Rath), Ballinreeshig, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ballinreeshig, Co. Cork

One of the more quietly telling details about this ringfort in Ballinreeshig, County Cork, is that part of its outer bank has been absorbed into the modern field fence system.

The boundary of an early medieval enclosure, probably built somewhere between the fifth and twelfth centuries, is still doing boundary work today, just under a different set of assumptions about what it is for. The rest of the structure sits in rough pasture on a south-east-facing slope, a slightly raised circular area measuring 38.5 metres north to south.

A rath, as ringforts built from earth rather than stone are sometimes called, typically enclosed a farmstead and the household belonging to a single family of middling status in early medieval Ireland. They are among the most common archaeological monument types in the country, yet each one carries its own particular story of survival and erosion. Here, two earthen banks with an intervening fosse, a defensive ditch, define the circuit running from south-south-west to north-east. The inner bank along the south-east to south-south-west arc has been worn down to a low rise, while the outer bank, as noted, has been quietly pressed into service as part of the surrounding field system. The result is a monument that has neither vanished nor been preserved in any formal sense, but has simply continued to be useful.

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