Ringfort (Rath), Lissavally, Co. Galway

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lissavally, Co. Galway

What catches the attention at Lissavally is not just the presence of one early medieval ringfort, but the existence of two, sitting roughly 170 metres apart from each other in the North Galway landscape.

That kind of pairing is not unheard of, but it remains unusual enough to prompt questions about how the people who built and used these enclosures understood their own territory and their neighbours.

This particular ringfort, a rath, measures around 33 metres in diameter and survives in notably good condition. A rath is a roughly circular enclosure defined by an earthen bank and, typically, an outer ditch, and this example follows that form closely. The bank and its external fosse, the ditch dug to throw up material for the bank, are best preserved on the south-western side. A gap on the southern edge may represent the original entrance, which would have been a deliberate and functional feature rather than later damage or erosion. Ringforts of this type are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, and functioned as enclosed farmsteads, providing a degree of security for a family, their livestock, and their goods. The site is documented in the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, Volume II, covering North Galway, compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra, and Paul Gosling and published in 1999.

The notes offer little in the way of visitor detail, but the site's companion enclosure nearby, catalogued separately, means that anyone with an interest in early settlement patterns has two structures worth examining in close proximity, which is itself a rare enough circumstance to make Lissavally worth a closer look on a map.

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