Ringfort (Rath), Barnacahoge, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Barnacahoge, Co. Mayo

On a ridge in County Mayo, a roughly oval earthwork sits in pasture with its scarp still rising to around 1.3 metres on the western side, its interior gone soft with long grass and ferns.

The enclosure measures approximately 28 metres north to south and 20 metres east to west, which places it well within the range of the ringforts, or raths, that once numbered in the tens of thousands across Ireland. These were typically enclosed farmsteads of the early medieval period, their earthen banks providing a degree of security for livestock and family alike. What gives this one a slightly different texture is a local tradition that it contains a souterrain beneath it, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, often used for storage or refuge, that would significantly complicate the picture of how this particular site was used and when.

The site has accumulated layers of documentation that reveal how it changed over time. The 1838 Ordnance Survey six-inch map recorded it as an irregular-shaped enclosure with a rectangular vernacular house sitting immediately to the south-east, suggesting the rath remained a point of reference in the local landscape even into the nineteenth century. By the 1930 edition, the enclosure was mapped as roughly oval. The northern and eastern sections of the scarp have since been absorbed into a later field wall, a common fate for prehistoric earthworks in agricultural land, and the drystone walling visible on the outer face and along the top of the western scarp appears to reflect relatively recent modification rather than any original construction. A gap of around two metres in the scarp at the south-east may preserve the original entrance, though the vegetation now makes it harder to read the ground clearly. The perimeter is thickly planted with hawthorn and ash, with a few conifers added along the eastern side, giving the enclosure a distinctly enclosed, interior quality despite its elevated position on the ridge.

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Pete F
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