Ringfort (Rath), Carrowreagh, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Carrowreagh, Co. Mayo

What draws attention to this particular field in Carrowreagh is not one ringfort but three.

From the low, grass-covered bank of this rath, two further examples of the same kind of enclosure are clearly visible, sitting 200 metres and 350 metres away to the south-east. Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, were the enclosed farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, built by families of some local standing to protect people, livestock, and goods. Finding clusters of them in the same landscape is not unheard of, but to stand inside one and look out at two more gives a peculiar sense of a community laid out in the fields.

The rath at Carrowreagh sits on a slight rise in undulating pasture, with a stony earthen bank enclosing a roughly circular area measuring about 26 metres across. The bank is more pronounced on the north-north-west side, where it still stands around 1.55 metres above the surrounding ground on its outer face, though on the south-south-east it has weathered considerably lower, and stretches of the internal face have eroded almost to a simple scarp, partly through the action of farm stock over the years. A gap of roughly 1.7 metres in the bank at the south-east may preserve the position of the original entrance, though field clearance debris has been piled against its outer edge. Inside, in the north-west quadrant, there is a roughly square hollow about 30 centimetres deep, with a flat stone slab protruding from beneath the sod on one side and a heap of upcast soil on another. A faint linear depression runs from this hollow some five metres toward the inner face of the bank. Taken together, these features are suggestive of a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage associated with early medieval ringforts and used variously for storage or refuge, though no excavation has confirmed this, and it remains an intriguing possibility rather than a certainty.

The perimeter hawthorn and blackthorn on the southern arc, along with the heaped clearance stones piled against the bank's exterior, give the site the well-worn look of a feature that has simply been farmed around for generations. A road runs along the north-west side of the field, placing the rath within easy sight of anyone passing, though it tends to read, at first glance, as no more than a slightly raised, scrubby ring in the grass.

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Pete F
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