Field system, Ballymanus, Co. Westmeath
Co. Westmeath |
Ritual/Ceremonial
On a slight but distinct natural rise in Ballymanus, County Westmeath, a cluster of earthworks quietly preserves the outline of how people once organised their land.
What draws the eye, at least from the air, is not a single monument but a whole neighbourhood of them: a ringfort, a church site, and a series of low earthen banks that together sketch something close to a complete early medieval settlement.
A ringfort is a roughly circular enclosure, typically defined by an earthen bank and ditch, used as a farmstead during the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries. The one sitting at the centre of this grouping has a further detail inside it: within its southern quadrant, the grass-covered wall footings of a rectangular house can still be made out on the ground. The low earthen banks extending to the east and west of this ringfort are thought to be an ancient field system, contemporary with the monument itself, meaning the banks and the enclosure were likely in use at the same time. A second ringfort lies approximately 140 metres to the north-north-west, and a church site sits around 160 metres to the south-south-west. The earthworks are subtle enough that aerial photography, specifically a Digital Globe image taken in November 2011, has been important in confirming what is visible on the ground.
What makes this particular spot quietly compelling is the density of what survives in a relatively small area. The rise in the landscape seems to have drawn activity across several functions, domestic, agricultural, and ecclesiastical, leaving a palimpsest of low banks and footings that rewards patient looking rather than a quick glance from the road.