Ringfort (Rath), Carrickittle, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Ringforts
In a low-lying marsh meadow in County Limerick, spread quietly across three ordinary-looking fields, sits one of the more densely packed archaeological complexes in the region.
Twelve monuments in close proximity, including barrows, a tumulus, and two earthwork platforms, occupy ground that most people would drive past without a second glance. The road runs immediately to the west, and a sand-pit sits just beyond that. The concentration alone is unusual; that the site remains so little discussed makes it more so.
When the archaeologist M. J. O'Kelly surveyed the complex in 1944 and published his findings, he recorded the two platforms in particular detail. A platform-type earthwork is essentially a raised, levelled mound of earth, distinct from a standard ringfort in that it prioritises a flat elevated surface rather than an enclosure with a surrounding ditch, known as a fosse. Of the two platforms here, one is circular and the other rectangular, and neither appears to have had a fosse at all. They sit roughly 12 metres apart. The rectangular south-eastern platform stands approximately 0.9 metres high and measures around 22 metres by 18.6 metres. Eight of the complex's barrows, which are burial mounds, share the same field as these two platforms, while a tumulus, a term used for a larger or more elaborate burial mound, sits in the nearest corner of the adjacent field to the east, and a ninth barrow occupies the corner of the field to the north.
The platforms themselves have not survived intact. A modern fence was put through the north-eastern sides of both at some point, leaving only roughly half of each visible above ground. Visitors approaching from the road to the west will find the monuments distributed across working agricultural land, so access may be limited depending on the season and the condition of the ground, which, given the marshy character O'Kelly described, can be soft underfoot. Looking carefully across the field nearest the road, the subtle rises of the barrows become apparent once your eye adjusts to the flatness of the surrounding meadow. The platforms, truncated as they are, still register as deliberate constructions rather than natural rises, particularly the rectangular one with its surviving height and distinct edges.