Ringfort (Rath), Tulla More, Co. Kerry

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Tulla More, Co. Kerry

What looks at first glance like a gentle swell in a north Kerry field is, on closer inspection, something considerably older and more deliberate.

At Tulla More, a ringfort, or rath, survives in a quietly eroded state on a northward-sloping rise, its circular form still legible in the landscape even where its defining features have softened almost to nothing. Ringforts are the most common archaeological monument type in Ireland, numbering in the tens of thousands, and were typically used as enclosed farmsteads during the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries. Most consist of a raised circular area bounded by one or more earthen banks with an external ditch, and this example follows that basic pattern, though time has worn it down considerably.

This is a univallate rath, meaning it has a single enclosing bank rather than the two or three concentric rings that mark higher-status sites. The circular interior measures approximately 25.4 metres north to south and 27 metres east to west. A low, wide earthen bank runs from the north around through the northwest to the southwest, while elsewhere the enclosure survives only as a slight rise of around 0.6 metres above the external fosse, the shallow ditch that once helped define the boundary. That fosse is traceable around most of the circuit, dipping to about 0.6 metres below the level of the surrounding ground, though it disappears to the south and southwest. Inside, the ground slopes northward and carries two rows of ridges running lengthwise down the interior. In the southern sector there is also a small internal mound, measuring roughly 2.4 by 2.8 metres, whose purpose is not recorded. Whether it represents a later intrusion, a structural remnant, or something else entirely remains an open question. The site was documented by C. Toal in the North Kerry Archaeological Survey, published in 1995.

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