Ringfort (Rath), Lavy More, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lavy More, Co. Mayo

On top of a steep-sided knoll in a Mayo pasture, half-consumed by hazel, blackthorn and brambles, sits a small ringfort that carries one of the more quietly sorrowful pieces of local memory attached to any such site in the county.

A rath, to give it its Irish name, is a roughly circular enclosed settlement, typically dating from the early medieval period and defined by an earthen bank or, in this case, a scarp, a cut or slope in the ground that drops away from the interior to mark the boundary. This one is modest in scale, roughly oval and measuring about 20 metres north to south and 15 to 18 metres east to west, occupying the summit of the knoll and looking out over flat, low-lying ground. A low ridge blocks the views to the north, and an old farm track passes along the eastern side.

The site has not come through the centuries undisturbed. In the early twentieth century, the north-western portion of the knoll was quarried to a depth of around three metres, removing that section of the rath interior entirely, along with whatever it once contained. What survives is the south-eastern arc of the enclosure, where the scarp still stands to about 1.8 metres and is topped in places by a faint stony rim. The original entrance is thought to have been on the north-eastern side, where the scarp broadens into a lower, gentler slope. Beyond the physical remains, there is a local tradition that the rath served as a burial place for unbaptised infants, a practice once widespread in Ireland, where children who died before baptism were considered ineligible for consecrated ground and were instead laid in liminal places, often ancient earthworks or boundary sites felt to exist at the margins of the ordinary world. One grave is still visible in the south-eastern quadrant.

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Pete F
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