Embanked enclosure, Kilmore, Co. Roscommon
Co. Roscommon |
Ringforts
On the crest of a north-west to south-east ridge at Kilmore in County Roscommon sits a circular enclosure that, despite centuries of grass and weathering, refuses to fully disappear.
Roughly twenty-three metres across, its boundary is formed by a low spread of stone, now turf-covered, that varies noticeably in its proportions as you move around the perimeter. The western side is the most substantial, with the bank spreading to about three and a half metres wide and rising to roughly eighty centimetres on the exterior face, while the southern stretch is considerably slimmer and lower. At the south-west corner, inner and outer facing stones are still visible, suggesting the original wall was built to a width of around one metre, a neat piece of construction that has since slumped into its current, more formless state. Bushes grow along the southern and western perimeter. There is no visible entrance anywhere around the circuit.
That last detail is worth pausing on. Embanked enclosures are found across Ireland, and while their precise purposes vary, they are generally understood as defined spaces set apart from the surrounding landscape, used for settlement, agriculture, ritual, or some combination of all three. The complete absence of a visible entrance gap is unusual and may simply mean that any original break in the bank has been obscured by collapse and vegetation over a very long period. The ridge-top position would have made this a prominent feature in its day, visible across the surrounding lowland and, equally, offering a clear view outward. The internal diameter, at roughly twenty-one to twenty-three metres depending on the axis measured, is consistent with enclosures of early medieval date, though without excavation any firm dating remains speculative.