Ringfort (Rath), Dunkereen, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Dunkereen, Co. Cork

Some of the most intriguing archaeological sites in Ireland are the ones that no longer exist.

At Dunkereen in County Cork, a ringfort once occupied a circular area of roughly forty metres in diameter, sitting close to Deanesfort House. Today there is nothing to see. The earthwork has been levelled, leaving no visible surface trace, and the site survives only as a mark on old paper.

The evidence for its existence comes from the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1842, which records the enclosure as a clear circular feature. A ringfort, or rath, is an enclosed settlement type common throughout early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of one or more earthen banks and ditches encircling a domestic space. They were built and occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and many thousands survive across the country in varying states of preservation. The Dunkereen example, positioned beside what became Deanesfort House, would have been a relatively modest example by size. At some point between the mid-nineteenth century, when the cartographers recorded it, and the present day, it was removed entirely, most likely through agricultural clearance or land improvement works.

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