Ringfort (Rath), Ballinard, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ballinard, Co. Wicklow

Beneath the grassy surface of this unassuming mound in Ballinard, Co. Wicklow, the ground has already been disturbed, though not by archaeologists.

Trenches cut into the interior of this rath suggest that at some point someone was more interested in the gravel beneath it than in whatever the structure once held. A rath is a ringfort, the circular enclosed farmstead that was the standard unit of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries. They are common enough across the Irish landscape, yet each one carries its own quiet puzzle.

This particular example sits on a low natural hummock on a gentle south-facing slope, with the ground dropping away more steeply to the south. The enclosing bank is substantial: between 6.5 and 9.5 metres wide, rising just over a metre above the already-elevated interior and as much as 3.6 metres above the exterior ground level. The outer diameter runs to about 45 metres on its longest axis, while the enclosed space inside measures around 30 metres across. Slight traces of a fosse, the external ditch that would originally have accompanied the bank, survive on the northern and eastern sides. Two gaps in the bank, each about 2 metres wide and positioned at the north-west and south, leave open the question of which, if either, was the original entrance. Beyond those gaps and the probable gravel workings, there are no recorded internal features.

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