That subtle dip, easy to miss in long grass, is one of the more intriguing features a ringfort can offer, and it speaks to a degree of deliberate landscaping that goes well beyond simply throwing up a defensive wall.

Ringforts, known in Irish as raths when formed from earthen banks rather than stone, are among the most common surviving monuments in the Irish countryside, with estimates running to tens of thousands across the island. Most date to the Early Medieval period, roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, and functioned primarily as enclosed farmsteads for a family of some local standing. This example in Clooncalla More is a fairly substantial one: nearly circular in plan, measuring 42.5 metres north to south and 41.5 metres east to west, and enclosed by an earthen bank standing 1.45 metres high, stone-faced in parts. Beyond the bank, a fosse, that is, a ditch, runs from the north-east around to the south, reaching a depth of 0.45 metres. A south-facing entrance, four metres wide, would have been the single formal point of access. The partial stone-facing of the bank suggests either that the builders had convenient local stone to hand, or that the structure was reinforced at some point after its original construction.