Ringfort (Rath), Kilmainepark, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Kilmainepark, Co. Mayo

In the undulating pasture near Kilmainepark, a low oval ring of earth sits quietly being used to feed cattle.

That is not neglect so much as continuity of a kind, because the enclosure was almost certainly a farmstead to begin with. Ringforts, known in Irish as raths when built from earthen banks rather than stone, were the standard form of rural settlement across early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries. They housed farming families and their livestock, and the boundary bank served as much to keep animals in as to keep anything out.

This particular example is oval in plan, measuring approximately fifty metres on its north-south axis and forty-three metres east to west, which puts it in the middling range of size. The enclosing bank survives to a height of only about thirty centimetres, so time and agricultural activity have worn it down considerably. One subtle feature survives intact: the northern half of the interior sits slightly higher than the southern half, a small topographical irregularity that hints at whatever structures or activity once occupied the space within. The site was recorded as part of an archaeological survey of the Ballinrobe district, including the Lough Mask and Lough Carra area, compiled by D. Lavelle and published in 1994.

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Pete F
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