Ringfort (Cashel), Kilbreedy (Kenry By.), Co. Limerick

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Kilbreedy (Kenry By.), Co. Limerick

A ringfort sits in a field in Kilbreedy, in the old Kenry barony of County Limerick, and what makes it immediately worth pausing over is a small asymmetry in its enclosing bank.

On the interior side that bank rises to 1.3 metres, a respectable height, yet on the exterior it stands only 0.32 metres. That inward-facing height is characteristic of how ringforts, the circular enclosed farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, were typically constructed; the bank was raised primarily to define and protect a domestic space rather than to present an imposing face to the outside world. Most were home to a single family and their livestock, and this one sits on a gentle south-facing slope, catching whatever warmth the Limerick sky offers, surrounded by the kind of outcropping limestone that is common across this part of the county.

The enclosure is roughly circular, measuring 30 metres north to south and just under 29.2 metres east to west. An additional earth-and-stone bank, lower at around 0.5 metres, abuts the main enclosing bank at the west-south-west and curves away to the north-west for about 11.8 metres before it fades into the ground; this kind of outer annexe is sometimes interpreted as a stock enclosure or secondary working area. The best-preserved section of the main bank runs from the north-west around to the north-east, while the north-east to east section has been cut through by a dry-stone field wall, the kind of incremental agricultural reuse that has altered ringforts all across Ireland over the centuries. A gap of nearly five metres in the western bank is likely the original entrance. The site was recorded and compiled by Denis Power, with notes uploaded in August 2011.

The fort sits in pasture, and the interior is noticeably uneven underfoot because of the limestone outcrops breaking through the surface. Visitors should expect a working agricultural setting and dress accordingly, particularly after wet weather when the ground around rock outcrops can be slippery. The western gap in the bank is the natural point of approach and gives the clearest sense of where the original entrance would have been. Once inside, looking north-west to north-east gives the best view of the bank at its most intact, where the earthwork still has something of its original profile and the relationship between the raised interior face and the much lower exterior becomes easy to read.

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Pete F
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