Ringfort (Rath), Rathduff, Co. Tipperary

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Rathduff, Co. Tipperary

A low, grassy ring sitting on the crest of a gentle hill in County Tipperary, this rath at Rathduff is easy to walk past without recognising it for what it is.

The enclosing bank has been partially levelled, and what survives is modest: a wide, rounded earthwork measuring roughly 37 metres across, with an internal height of less than half a metre in places. Only in the northern quadrant, where the bank has been reduced to a scarp rising to about 1.34 metres, does the structure assert itself with anything approaching drama.

Ringforts, or raths, are among the most common archaeological monument types in Ireland, built predominantly during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, as enclosed farmsteads for a single family or small community. This one sits on flat ground at the top of a low hill, with a pond immediately to its north, a detail that may well reflect deliberate siting rather than coincidence, since water sources near ringforts are not unusual. The enclosure is defined by a single bank with no evidence of an outer fosse, the term for a defensive ditch that typically accompanied such a bank, and no clear original entrance gap has been identified in the surviving earthwork. The bank itself is notably wide at the base, around 7.8 metres, relative to its modest height, which suggests either significant erosion and spread over many centuries or deliberate construction of a broad, low boundary rather than a tall defensive wall.

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Pete F
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