Ringfort (Rath), Lickadoon, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lickadoon, Co. Limerick

What survives at Lickadoon is, by most measures, a fragment.

Only the south-western arc of a ringfort remains visible in the pasture here, the rest lost to the slow attrition of farming and time. Yet even this partial circuit rewards close attention, because the earthwork is more varied than it first appears, and the variation itself tells you something about how these structures were built and why they were shaped the way they were.

Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically enclosing a farmstead behind one or more banks and ditches. The example at Lickadoon sits on a gentle north-facing slope in undulating pasture, with Knockea Hill rising to the north-east. It was recorded with hachures on the 1924 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which captured the south-western arc of a bank and its external fosse, the term for the accompanying ditch. The bank itself is flat-topped with a steep internal edge, standing around two metres high and roughly two and a half metres wide. The fosse beside it is flat-bottomed with steep sides, nearly four metres wide and over a metre and a half deep. Towards the south, however, the dimensions shift: the fosse becomes wider and considerably shallower, dropping to just half a metre in depth and spreading to seven metres across, while the bank reduces in size. This variation is not unusual in earthworks of this kind, where the ground conditions and the builder's priorities could produce an uneven result around the same circuit.

The site sits in working farmland, so access depends on the usual courtesies of the Irish countryside: seek permission before crossing private land, and be prepared for the ground underfoot to be soft in wetter months. The earthwork is subtle rather than dramatic, and approaching it from the south gives the clearest sense of the fosse's wider, shallower profile before the bank asserts itself more confidently to the north-west. There is no signage or formal access point, and the surrounding pasture offers little shelter from the prevailing weather off Knockea Hill. What you are looking for, essentially, is a low curve of raised ground with a broad depression running alongside it, most legible in low winter light when the grass is short and shadows pick out the relief of the earthwork.

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), Lickadoon, Co. Limerick. 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