At Cullomane in County Cork, a ringfort, known in Irish usage as a rath, once occupied a north-west-facing slope. Today, the field is pasture, the ground is level, and there is nothing visible at the surface to suggest that anyone ever lived here at all.

Ringforts were the dominant form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of a circular area enclosed by one or more earthen banks and ditches. They served as farmsteads, enclosing a household and its outbuildings, and many thousands survive across the country in varying states of preservation. The Cullomane example has been levelled entirely, meaning the banks have been reduced, whether by deliberate clearance, agricultural activity, or gradual erosion, until no trace remains above ground. What does survive, recorded beneath the surface, is a souterrain. These were underground stone-lined passages or chambers, often associated with ringforts, and used variously for storage, refuge, or ventilation of perishable goods. The presence of one here confirms the enclosure was a real and inhabited place, even if the ground above it gives nothing away.