Ringfort (Rath), Raheenroe, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Raheenroe, Co. Cork

Sitting on the crest of a low hill in Raheenroe, Co. Cork, this early medieval ringfort is the kind of site that rewards a second look.

At first glance it reads as a grassy circle in a field, but the earthen bank enclosing it still stands to an external height of 3.2 metres, and the surrounding fosse, a defensive ditch dug around the perimeter, drops to a depth of one metre. Together they form the classic profile of a rath, the Irish term for an earthen ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead built in their thousands across Ireland between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries. This one measures approximately 29 metres north to south and 28.5 metres east to west, placing it comfortably within the typical range for a single-family agricultural enclosure.

The bank has been planted with conifers at some point, which obscures its outline and alters the feel of the place considerably. It is also broken in two spots, to the south-southwest and the west-northwest, suggesting either deliberate interference or centuries of slow erosion. The original entrance lies to the east, marked by a causeway 7.4 metres wide crossing the fosse, though a stone wall has been built across it at some stage, partially blocking the gap. Inside the enclosure, faint traces of cultivation ridges run along an east-west axis, the low parallel undulations that result from old ridge-and-furrow tillage. Whether these ridges pre-date or post-date the use of the site as a ringfort is not clear, but their presence suggests the interior was turned over to cultivation at some point, probably after the enclosure had ceased to function as a defended farmstead.

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