Ringfort (Rath), Killeany More, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Ringforts
In a level Limerick pasture, a small circle of trees and dense undergrowth gives away what the surrounding farmland does not: a ringfort, its earthen banks quietly holding their shape after well over a thousand years.
These enclosures, known variously as raths or ringforts, were the standard form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically surrounding a farmstead and its outbuildings. This one at Killeany More is modest in scale, roughly twenty metres across, but its survival amid working agricultural land makes it worth attention.
The enclosure is roughly circular, defended by an earthen bank that still stands about one metre on the interior side and 1.3 metres on the exterior, with an outer fosse, essentially a ditch, running around the outside at roughly two metres wide and 0.6 metres deep. The northwestern to northeastern arc is the exception: that section of the enclosing bank has been almost completely levelled, whether by farming activity or simple weathering over the centuries is not recorded. A separate low earthen bank extends southward from the southeastern corner of the enclosure for eighteen metres, then turns eastward at a right angle and runs a further twenty-four metres before stopping short of a north-south field boundary. This kind of annexe feature is occasionally associated with ringforts and may have served to enclose animals or define a working yard adjacent to the main enclosure. A field boundary that the 1923 Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows abutting the southern side of the enclosure has since been removed, a reminder of how the landscape around these sites continues to shift even as the monuments themselves persist.
Because the enclosure and the ground immediately around it are covered in dense trees and bushes, approaching it on foot across open pasture is the straightforward part; getting a clear view of the banks from within or close to the treeline is considerably less so. Visitors should be aware that this is agricultural land and that access arrangements are not specified in the record. The surviving earthwork is most legible from a slight distance, where the elevated canopy above an otherwise flat field marks the site plainly. The fosse and exterior bank are the details most worth seeking out, as they give a clearer sense of the original defensive or boundary logic of the structure than the partially levelled interior face alone can.