Ringfort (Rath), Cill Fhiontain, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ringforts
On a low, level plain between Dingle Harbour and the hills of Lateevemore and Knockavrogeen, a roughly circular earthen bank encloses something considerably more layered than it first appears.
The enclosure measures about 24 by 25 metres across the interior, and while the bank itself rises no more than 1.4 metres on its outer face, it contains within it three conjoined hut-sites and a souterrain, the latter being an underground stone-lined passage of the kind commonly associated with early medieval settlement in Ireland, typically used for storage or refuge. The souterrain here is now inaccessible, sealed beneath the ground, though three small holes open into it and offer the barest hint of what lies below. A fallen slab in the south-western hut is thought to be one of its original roofing stones.
This is a univallate rath, meaning a ringfort enclosed by a single bank and ditch, a form of settlement that was widespread in early medieval Ireland, typically associated with farming families of moderate status. The three hut-sites run in a north-east to south-west line through the centre of the interior, their walls now reduced to low earthen and stone banks no more than thirty centimetres high. They appear to have been roughly circular in plan and probably shared walls where they met. On the east side of the middle hut, two parallel rows of stones set on edge may once have framed an entrance. The bank enclosing the whole site has three gaps, one of which is almost certainly a later animal track; the other two, at the south-south-east and west, are candidates for the original entrance, though the western one has been heavily disturbed and is now blocked by a stone wall. The western arc of the bank survives best, partly because it has been absorbed into a working field boundary. Roughly 210 metres to the north-north-west lies the Kilfountan early church site, suggesting this was once a small but not isolated community in the landscape.
The site sits on open ground and the earthen bank, though worn, is still legible as a shape in the field. The interior retains a slight rise, and the low humps of the hut-sites are visible underfoot once you know what you are looking for. A low mound in the south-east sector of the interior has no confirmed explanation.