Ringfort (Rath), Aghamilla, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Ringforts
Across rural Ireland, thousands of ringforts survive in fields and hillsides, quietly absorbed into the working landscape.
The one at Aghamilla, in West Cork, is a good example of how thoroughly these ancient enclosures can be domesticated by later centuries of farming. Its earthen bank has been pressed into service as a field fence, folded so completely into the surrounding boundary system that the original structure and the modern one are now effectively the same object.
A rath, as this type of ringfort is known, was typically a circular enclosure built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and used as a defended farmstead for a single family or small settlement. The Aghamilla example is roughly 28 metres across in both its north-east to south-west and east to west axes, making it a fairly standard example in terms of scale. The earthen bank survives to a height of around 1.6 metres along its eastern to southern arc, while a scarp, a steep slope cut into the ground rather than built up, runs along the opposite side and reaches a maximum height of about 1.25 metres. Outside the scarp, the silted-up remains of a fosse are still visible; a fosse is a defensive ditch dug around the perimeter of the enclosure, which over centuries fills gradually with soil and debris until it reads as little more than a soft depression in the ground. The site sits on a north-west-facing slope, currently in pasture.