Ringfort (Rath), Trotts, Co. Sligo

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Ringfort (Rath), Trotts, Co. Sligo

In a field of undulating pasture in Trotts, County Sligo, a nearly circular raised platform sits quietly at the north-eastern end of a ridge running roughly north-east to south-west.

It is not dramatically prominent, but measured carefully it spans just under thirty metres across, enclosed by a bank of earth and stone that still carries traces of its original stone facing. That combination of modest height and deliberate construction is characteristic of the rath, a type of ringfort that served as a farmstead enclosure during the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries.

The bank itself is between two and a half and just over three metres wide, rising to around half a metre above the interior ground level and to nearly one and a half metres on the outside, giving the enclosure a more imposing face outward than it presents within. At the eastern side, a four-metre break in the bank marks what appears to be the original entrance. The northern terminal of this gap retains its stone facing, suggesting the entrance was a carefully finished feature rather than a simple gap left in the earthwork. Facing east was a common orientation for ringfort entrances, though the reasons, whether practical, symbolic, or both, remain a matter of discussion among archaeologists.

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