Ringfort (Rath), Ardmeelode, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ringforts
Most ringforts in Ireland read, from a distance, as a single raised ring in a field.
The one at Ardmeelode in County Kerry insists on more attention than that. It is defined not by one earthen bank but by two, separated by a ditch called a fosse, with a second fosse running around the outside, giving the whole enclosure a layered, almost corrugated profile when seen in cross-section. That kind of doubled defensive arrangement places it among the more elaborately constructed examples of its type, a category sometimes called a multivallate rath.
A rath is an early medieval enclosure, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth century, built to enclose a farmstead and signal its owner's status as much as to defend it. At Ardmeelode the circular interior measures approximately 36 metres east to west and 34 metres north to south, and the banks survive to a respectable height: the inner bank rises nearly two and a half metres on its outer face, while the outer bank stands close to one and a half metres on its inner face. The original entrance was a causeway on the south-south-east side, just over three metres wide, where the banks and ditches were bridged to allow access. A souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber typically used for storage or as a refuge, lies beneath the northern half of the interior. These features are frequently found together in Irish ringforts and often represent the most durable evidence of whoever once lived within the banks. The site sits on an east-facing slope with open views northward toward the Slieve Mish Mountains, a position that would have made practical sense for both drainage and visibility.
The banks today carry coniferous trees, their roots threading down through what were once carefully shaped earthworks, and a field boundary to the west-north-west has absorbed part of the outer bank, quietly folding a prehistoric boundary into a modern one. A cattle break at the north-east and a gap in the outer bank to the east speak to the site's long afterlife as working pasture.