Ringfort (Rath), Barnaboy, Co. Galway

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Barnaboy, Co. Galway

In a field of level pastureland in Barnaboy, County Galway, a slight irregularity in the ground turns out to be something considerably older than the farm boundaries around it.

What looks from a distance like a gentle rise in the grass is in fact a well-preserved early medieval ringfort, or rath, a type of enclosed farmstead once common across Ireland and typically associated with a single farming family of some status. Thousands were built between roughly the third and tenth centuries, and while many have been ploughed flat or built over, this one has survived in reasonable condition.

The rath is subcircular in plan, measuring approximately 39.7 metres across its widest axis and 32 metres on the shorter one. It is defined by an earthen bank and an external fosse, the ditch dug outside the bank whose upcast material was used to build it up. A gap of about 3.5 metres on the east-south-east side may represent the original entrance, a common placement in Irish raths that is thought to have had both practical and symbolic significance. Inside the enclosure, a low central rise measuring roughly 10 metres by 7 metres suggests that something once stood there, possibly the remains of a structure or a midden, though the notes do not specify further. Running around the outside of the monument from the east-south-east, continuing through the west and round to the north, there is also a berm-like feature, a narrow flat ledge sitting between the bank and the fosse, which adds a further layer of complexity to the earthwork's construction.

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Pete F
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