Ringfort (Rath), Garraun, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Garraun, Co. Cork

A field boundary in County Cork has quietly absorbed the outline of an early medieval settlement, bending slightly to acknowledge what it cannot entirely erase.

On a gentle east-facing slope at Garraun, a ringfort survives in partial form, its circular plan legible only if you know what to look for. A ringfort, or rath, was typically a farmstead enclosed by one or more earthen banks, constructed throughout the early medieval period in Ireland and used as a dwelling and enclosure for livestock. Thousands survive across the country, though many have been ploughed out or built over. This one occupies a middle ground, neither erased nor intact.

The enclosure measured approximately forty metres in diameter, as recorded on the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1937, where it appears as a hachured circle, the standard cartographic shorthand for an earthwork of this kind. What survives on the ground is an arc of earthen bank running from north-north-west to south-east, with an internal height of around 0.6 metres and an external height of about one metre. Outside this bank, a shallow fosse, the ditch that typically accompanied such an enclosure, survives to a depth of roughly 0.3 metres. To the south, the original bank has been replaced entirely by a field fence, though that fence kinks noticeably along its course, a small but telling sign that whoever built it was at least partly working around the old line of the rath. On the western side, a drain and an accompanying field boundary have cut into the monument, truncating it further. The interior, such as it remains, is partially overgrown with briars.

There is something quietly telling about that kinked fence line. It suggests that the rath's outline was visible enough, or known well enough, that a later farmer chose to accommodate it rather than ignore it entirely, even while the southern bank was being removed. The monument is not dramatic, but the negotiation between old earthwork and working farmland, played out in the angle of a fence, is exactly the kind of thing that gets overlooked on the landscape and rarely makes it into any account of the place.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort (Rath), Garraun, Co. Cork. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement