Ringfort (Rath), Ahascra, Co. Kerry

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ahascra, Co. Kerry

At the corner of a field in Ahascra, Co. Kerry, the ground rises in a low, broad ring that most people would walk past without a second glance.

What looks like an unremarkable earthwork is in fact a rath, the Irish term for a roughly circular enclosure defined by an earthen bank, built during the early medieval period as a farmstead or defended homestead. Thousands were constructed across Ireland between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries, and this one in north Kerry is a quietly legible survivor, even if the centuries have not been entirely kind to it.

The enclosure is sub-circular in plan, measuring approximately 35 metres north to south and just over 30 metres east to west. It is a univallate rath, meaning it has a single enclosing bank rather than the multiple concentric rings found at more elaborate or high-status sites. That bank is unusually wide relative to its height, running to around eight metres across but only about half a metre above the surrounding ground level, particularly along the northern and western arc. Two gaps interrupt the circuit, a larger one of roughly four metres at the northeast and a narrower one of about a metre at the southwest, which may reflect original entranceways or later breaks in the earthwork. The rath has been absorbed into the working landscape of the field in a way that complicates its original form: field banks along the southern and eastern sides have merged with the structure, and a drain cut along the south has further blurred the line between ancient monument and agricultural feature.

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Pete F
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