Ringfort (Rath), Lispatrick, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lispatrick, Co. Mayo

Tucked onto the summit of a low hill in County Mayo, this ringfort sits between two lakes, with Curragh Lough only about thirty metres to the south-east and Cullentragh Lough a little further to the north-west.

The boggy ground that once lay open between them has largely vanished under a forestry plantation, which now presses to within five metres of the north-eastern edge of the fort. That encroachment gives the site an oddly hemmed-in quality on one side, while the lough-side view to the south-east remains comparatively open. A ringfort, or rath, is an enclosed circular settlement typical of early medieval Ireland, usually defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches and used as a farmstead or defended homestead.

The rath itself is a roughly circular platform, measuring just under 45 metres north to south and nearly 47 metres east to west, which places it at a fairly substantial size for the type. It is defined by a scarp, essentially a steep earthen face, rising to 2.2 metres on the northern side. A low internal lip runs along the top of this scarp, and fragments of a stone kerb survive along the south-western to north-western arc. The outer face of the scarp is notably vertical in places and retains stone facing to a height of 1.4 metres on the south-eastern to north-western stretch, which appears to reflect relatively recent alteration rather than the original construction. The most likely cause is a laneway that appears skirting the western half of the rath on the 1838 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, only to disappear from later editions, suggesting it fell out of use sometime in the nineteenth century and that its passage left a mark on the monument's outer profile. A broad terrace, roughly 6.6 metres wide, curves around the north-western to north-eastern arc and may preserve the course of an earlier fosse, the defensive ditch that would originally have encircled the bank. The probable original entrance lay to the east-south-east, where the scarp drops to around 1.4 metres and the hillside below offers its gentlest gradient, the natural route of approach.

The interior rises in a gentle dome, highest just north of centre and sloping gradually down towards the enclosing earthwork, most noticeably on the eastern side. The whole is under grass, and the combination of the domed profile, the vertical outer scarp, and the remnant stone kerbing gives the structure an unusually well-defined character for a site that has clearly been modified and worked around over the centuries.

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