Ringfort (Rath), Murrahin, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Murrahin, Co. Cork

On the crest of a north-south ridge in Murrahin, County Cork, a roughly circular enclosure sits quietly in pasture, its earthen bank still standing 2.2 metres high after somewhere between one and fifteen centuries of weathering, grazing, and slow subsidence.

This is a rath, the most common type of ringfort found across Ireland, a form of enclosed farmstead built predominantly during the early medieval period. Thousands survive in varying states across the country, but each one rewards a closer look at its particular details.

This example measures almost perfectly circular, 28.9 metres north to south and 28.6 metres east to west, suggesting careful original planning. The enclosing bank is accompanied by an external fosse, a cut ditch, which still retains a depth of around 0.8 metres. In places the bank is stone-faced, indicating that the builders reinforced the earthen material with stonework, whether from the outset or as a later repair. Along the inner face of the bank, from the south-southwest around to the north, there is a berm, a narrow shelf or ledge of material that likely accumulated through gradual slippage of the bank over time rather than any deliberate design. The entrance, positioned to the southeast and two metres wide, is approached by a causeway crossing the fosse, a standard arrangement that controlled movement in and out of the enclosure and would originally have been closed by a gate or some timber barrier.

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