Ringfort (Rath), Ballyoskill, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Ballyoskill, Co. Kilkenny

A small earthwork near the base of a north-east-facing slope in County Kilkenny has quietly survived the centuries in rough upland pasture, its round-topped bank still tracing an almost complete circle in the grass.

This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead typically built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Thousands of them survive across Ireland in varying states of preservation, but each one sits differently in its landscape, and this one is unusually modest in scale, measuring just 23.2 metres north to south and 22.5 metres east to west.

The fort occupies a considered position overlooking a stream in a small river valley, with an open view northward along the valley floor. To the east, a rising hill on the far bank closes off the prospect, and further hills restrict the view to the south and west, giving the site a sense of being tucked into the terrain rather than commanding it. The enclosing bank, round-topped and earthen, survives to an internal height of roughly 45 centimetres, with a slight outer fosse, a shallow defensive ditch, still visible in the southern sector on either side of the entrance, which faces south-south-east and is just under three metres wide. The interior slopes gently to the north-east, following the natural lie of the ground. Hawthorn trees grow along the perimeter, with blackthorn, rushes, and rough grass inside. The eastern bank has suffered erosion, likely from a combination of flooding from the nearby stream and pressure from grazing cattle, and a large hollow near the northern interior wall, almost seven metres across, is thought to be the result of later human disturbance, possibly drainage work carried out long after the fort had ceased to function as a settlement.

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Pete F
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