Ringfort (Rath), Sackville, Co. Kerry

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Sackville, Co. Kerry

Sitting in the corner of a pastoral field in Sackville, north County Kerry, this double-banked ringfort commands open views in every direction, which is precisely the point.

It is a bivallate rath, meaning it was constructed with not one but two concentric earthen banks separated by a ditch, or fosse, giving it a degree of defensive elaboration that sets it apart from the more common single-banked variety. That extra ring of earthwork, still clearly legible in the landscape today, suggests this was once the enclosure of someone of considerable local standing.

Raths of this kind were typically built and occupied during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, serving as the fortified homesteads of farming families and minor lords. This example stretches to an overall diameter of 76 metres, with the inner enclosure measuring approximately 39 metres across. The inner bank, which rises to 1.6 metres above the interior floor and a more imposing 2.8 metres above the fosse, remains well preserved. The fosse itself averages 3.2 metres in width, a substantial channel that would have made uninvited entry considerably less straightforward. The outer bank is somewhat worn but still distinguishable, rising about 1.4 metres above the fosse and 1.8 metres above the surrounding ground. There is a roughly four-metre-wide entrance gap in the inner bank on the northern side, though curiously no corresponding break exists in the outer bank, a detail that raises quiet questions about how the site was originally approached and used. The rath was recorded and described as part of the North Kerry Archaeological Survey, published by C. Toal in 1995.

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