Ringfort (Rath), Foilatrisnig, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ringforts
On a level terrace cut into a steep east-facing slope above Gleann na nGealt in County Kerry, there is a ringfort whose most quietly extraordinary feature lies almost entirely underground.
The enclosure itself is a univallate rath, meaning it has a single surrounding bank rather than the multiple concentric rings found at more elaborate sites, and at 33 metres in internal diameter it is a solid, purposeful structure. But beneath the hut site inside it runs a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage of the kind used in early medieval Ireland for storage, refuge, or both, and this one is elaborate enough to suggest the people who built it were thinking carefully about concealment and control.
The earthen bank enclosing the site ranges from 1.4 to 2.4 metres in height on its outer face and retains traces of stone facing on its inner edge at the south-west and south-east. A partially preserved fosse, or external ditch, runs around the outside, up to 9 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep at its most intact point. The entrance, 3.2 metres wide, faces east. Inside, a line of three stones set on edge between the hut and the entrance may once have marked a pathway. The hut itself is modest, roughly 4.4 metres across internally, with walls 2.5 metres thick, though little survives above a single course of stone. The souterrain below is a different matter. Its main passage runs approximately 13 metres from north-east to south-west, built from upright slabs topped with slightly corbelled drystone walling, and divided into two sections by a creepway, a deliberately low and narrow constriction that anyone moving through would have to squeeze past, making it easy to defend or difficult to pass quickly in the dark. Off the main passage, further lintelled openings lead to additional passages and possible chambers at right angles. One entrance near the western end of the north wall has been almost entirely blocked by soil, apparently the work of a badger. A section at the southern end was partially collapsed at the time of survey, following the passage of heavy machinery through the ringfort above, and was considered too dangerous to plan in full.
The site sits within a landscape of considerable archaeological density on the Dingle Peninsula, and the survey from which its detailed description derives, J. Cuppage's 1986 Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey, remains a significant record of the area. A modern field fence now divides the interior of the enclosure into two unequal portions, cutting across the archaeology, though the hut and souterrain lie together in the larger southern section.