Ringfort (Rath), Lismoynan, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lismoynan, Co. Tipperary

The earthwork at Lismoynan sits in woodland now, shaded by mature trees and hemmed in by improved pasture, which makes the precision of its surviving geometry all the more striking.

It is a ringfort, known in Irish as a rath, a type of enclosed farmstead built and occupied across Ireland roughly between the early medieval period and the Viking Age. Thousands once existed; many have been levelled by centuries of agriculture. This one has not, and the detail preserved in it rewards careful attention.

The enclosure is roughly circular, measuring about 40 metres north to south and 42 metres east to west. A substantial earthen bank defines the perimeter, with an external height of nearly three metres on its best-preserved stretches. On the north-east to south-west arc, the bank has been reduced to a steep scarp rather than a full rounded profile, but on the south-east to north-east sweep, a well-preserved outer fosse, essentially a defensive ditch cut into the ground, survives to a depth of just over two metres and a width of more than eleven metres at its widest. A stream runs along the north-east to south-east edge, which would have reinforced the natural defensibility of that side. A second stream passes roughly thirty metres to the west. The combination of engineered earthwork and natural watercourses suggests the site was chosen and laid out with deliberate care. There is a causewayed entrance at the east-south-east, a raised crossing over the fosse approximately nine metres long, though its present form may reflect later modification rather than original construction. The interior slopes gently downward to the south and contains an oval pit in the south-east sector, also of uncertain date.

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