Ringfort (Rath), Carrowconor, Co. Sligo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Carrowconor, Co. Sligo

A field wall runs straight through the middle of this early medieval enclosure in County Sligo, dividing it into roughly equal halves as though the old boundary simply did not matter.

That kind of intrusion is not unusual on Irish farmland, but it does make it harder to read what was once a coherent, self-contained space.

The site sits on a gentle rise in undulating pasture at Carrowconor, an oval platform measuring approximately 33 metres east to west and just under 24 metres north to south. It is enclosed by a low bank of earth and stone, about 3.8 metres wide but only around 30 centimetres high on the interior, with traces of stone kerbing surviving on the inner face. Towards the north and north-west, the bank gives way to a low scarp, with some evidence of kerbing on the outer side as well. There is no fosse, the term for the encircling ditch that typically accompanies a rath of this kind, and no recognisable original entrance survives. Raths, or ringforts, were the farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, in use roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries; most enclosed a family home and perhaps some outbuildings, surrounded by an earthen bank for privacy and the corralling of livestock as much as for defence. This example is modest in scale but clearly constructed with some care, given the kerbing details. Adding to the quiet puzzlement of the place is an irregularly shaped pit sitting just west of centre, measuring around 8 metres by 5 metres and half a metre deep, abutting the northern side of the field wall. Its purpose is not known.

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