Ringfort (Rath), Puntabeg, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Puntabeg, Co. Mayo

On a low rise at the western edge of the townland of Puntabeg in County Mayo, a ringfort has been losing its shape for a very long time.

What survives today is roughly half a circle, the northern arc of what was once a complete embanked enclosure, and even that much is only faintly readable on the ground.

A rath is an Early Medieval farmstead enclosure, typically of earthen bank construction, built to define a family's territory and provide a degree of protection for livestock. The Puntabeg example was still legible enough in 1838 to be recorded on the Ordnance Survey six-inch map as a circular embanked enclosure, with its western edge neatly incorporated into the townland boundary. By the 1920 edition of the same mapping series, the picture had changed: the site was shown as a penannular form, open to the south-west, suggesting significant levelling had already occurred. The term penannular simply means almost ring-shaped, a broken circle. Since then, the southern portion of the enclosure has been lost entirely and cannot now be traced.

What remains is a semi-circular area measuring roughly 25.8 metres on a north-west to south-east axis. Along the south-west to north-west stretch, the original scarp has been reduced to a slight rise, with the old townland boundary wall running along its outer face. The north-east section is in better condition, with a slumped but still visible slope reaching about one metre in external height and around five and a half metres across. A modern shed has been built directly over the north-east portion, which does not help. The site sits in pasture, the land sloping gently away to the east, and the whole arrangement has the quality of something that only becomes clear once you already know what you are looking for.

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Pete F
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