Ringfort (Rath), Loughagar More, Co. Westmeath
Co. Westmeath |
Ringforts
A wide trench cut for silage storage bisects this early medieval enclosure from north-northeast to south-southwest, slicing through what was once a carefully bounded domestic space.
It is an arresting collision of agricultural practicality and archaeological survival, and it is not unusual in the Irish midlands, where ringforts, the circular earthen enclosures that served as farmsteads during the early medieval period, continue to be ploughed around, built over, and in some cases quietly dismantled by the rhythms of working farmland.
The ringfort at Loughagar More sits on a gentle rise in undulating grassland in County Westmeath, its modest elevation offering little in the way of commanding views, the surrounding land closing things in on all sides. The monument itself is a sub-circular raised area measuring roughly 27 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west, enclosed by a low earthen bank with a shallow external fosse, that is, a ditch running around the outside of the bank. The fosse survives best on the western side. On the eastern side, a narrow entrance gap of about 1.45 metres cuts through the bank, with a causeway of around 2.6 metres carrying the approach across the ditch. Traces of cultivation ridges are still visible inside, running northeast to southwest across an interior that slopes gently from the east-northeast. The townland boundary with Brittas runs along a road less than five metres to the west, and a second ringfort lies roughly 200 metres to the southwest, suggesting this part of Westmeath was reasonably well settled during the period when such enclosures were in use.
What makes the site quietly sobering is precisely that juxtaposition: a causeway and entrance gap preserved in enough detail to be measured, set against a silage pit that cuts straight through the middle. The bank and fosse record something deliberate and considered, an enclosure built to a plan. The pit records something more recent and entirely indifferent to that plan.