Ringfort (Rath), Culleens, Co. Sligo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Culleens, Co. Sligo

A modern field boundary cuts straight through this early medieval enclosure on the eastern slope of a north-south ridge in County Sligo, dividing it so cleanly that the two halves now tell quite different stories.

To the north-west of the fence, the bank has been largely levelled and the rath survives only as a faintly raised semicircular trace in the pasture. To the south-east, the structure is more legible, though complicated by an internal scarp that drops the ground level by nearly a metre between the south-western and north-eastern portions of the interior.

A rath is a ringfort, the enclosed farmstead of an early medieval Irish family, typically defined by one or more earthen banks and used for settlement and the protection of livestock. This one forms a roughly circular area about 35 metres across, enclosed by an earthen bank that is 3.7 metres wide and still stands to an external height of 1.3 metres on its eastern side. There are hints that the bank was originally faced with stone, which would have given it a more substantial appearance than the softened earthwork visible today. The interior scarp running north-west to south-east, along with a short remnant bank extending roughly 3.4 metres from it, suggests the enclosed space was subdivided at some point, though whether this reflects original design or later alteration is unclear.

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