Ringfort (Rath), Mondaniel, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Mondaniel, Co. Cork

In the pastureland of Mondaniel in east Cork, a slight rise in a field is almost all that remains of what was once, according to an early twentieth-century account, not one but two large enclosures.

That description comes from P. Power, writing in 1923, who recorded two substantial ringforts on this ground, both polygonal in plan, which is itself unusual. Ringforts, or raths, are the most common class of monument in the Irish landscape, typically the enclosed homesteads of early medieval farming families, and they are almost always circular. A polygonal outline suggests something less typical, perhaps a more deliberate or formal construction, though without excavation the reason remains a matter of speculation.

What survives today is a levelled but still legible circular platform measuring 26 metres across in both directions, defined by a low earthen rise that barely clears the surrounding ground, sitting no more than 0.4 metres above the interior surface and 0.7 metres above the exterior. The enclosing bank, in other words, is more sensed than seen. There may once have been a second, outer bank to the north of the platform; a curving section of earthen field fence running roughly from the northeast to the southwest is noticeably higher and more substantial than the fences on either side of it, suggesting it may incorporate the remains of that original earthwork. A second possible ringfort lies roughly 240 metres to the east, raising the prospect that this was once a more densely settled or significant piece of ground than its current quiet, grazed surface would suggest.

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