Ringfort (Rath), Morgans South, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Ringforts
What remains at Morgans South is not immediately obvious as anything other than a low, stony ridge along the corner of a field.
But that modest arc of earth and stone, barely a quarter of a metre high on its inner face, is in all likelihood the surviving fragment of a ringfort, or rath, a type of enclosed farmstead that was the dominant form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland. Thousands were built across the country, typically circular in plan, defined by one or more earthen banks. This one has been slowly absorbed into the working landscape.
The site sits on a gently north-facing slope in rocky pasture, and what can still be traced runs from north to south-east, describing a curve that was once part of a complete circular enclosure. The western and southern sections have been lost to field boundaries, which over generations have been built or realigned directly across the original structure. What survives, measured by Denis Power when the record was compiled in 2011, amounts to a bank four metres wide with an external height of 0.35 metres, enclosing, together with those later boundaries, a roughly D-shaped area approximately 31.6 metres north to south and 7.2 metres east to west. Scattered stone lying nearby is understood to have eroded from the bank itself, suggesting gradual collapse over a long period. Locally, the site is simply known as "a fort", a colloquial memory that is common across rural Ireland and often proves to be the most durable form of record a site has.
The enclosure is partially overgrown with bushes, which makes the arc of the bank easier to feel underfoot than to see from a distance. Visitors approaching across the rocky pasture should look for the subtle rise in the south-west corner of the field and the scatter of loose stone that accompanies it. There is no formal access or signage, and the land is agricultural, so any visit would require the goodwill of the landowner. The bank is most legible when low vegetation dies back in late autumn or winter, when the gentle curve of the surviving arc becomes more apparent against the otherwise flat field surface.