Ringfort (Rath), Tullassa, Co. Clare

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Tullassa, Co. Clare

A low, circular rise in the ground at Tullassa might easily be dismissed as a natural feature of the landscape, but the geometry gives it away.

Sitting at the northern edge of a slight plateau in County Clare, this early medieval ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead typically dating from roughly 500 to 1000 AD, measures just over 25 metres across and is defined by an earthen bank that has been partly absorbed into later field boundaries. One stretch has been reduced to a scarp nearly 2.5 metres high, while surviving sections of the bank range between 3.2 and 4.7 metres wide. Traces of facing stones are still visible along the bank, suggesting it was once more formally constructed than its current grass-covered state implies.

What makes this site quietly remarkable is not the enclosure itself but what lies beneath it. Two souterrains, stone-lined underground passages that were commonly built within or beside ringforts and used for storage or refuge, have been recorded here. One sits within the western perimeter of the bank, the other towards the centre of the enclosed area. The presence of two souterrains at a single site is relatively unusual, and their positions suggest careful integration with whatever domestic or agricultural structures once stood above ground. There is no visible fosse, the defensive ditch that typically accompanies a rath, and no identifiable original entrance survives at the surface, which leaves open questions about how the enclosure was approached and used by its inhabitants.

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Pete F
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