Ringfort (Rath), Tullig More, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Tullig More, Co. Cork

Beneath a west-facing pasture slope in Tullig More, County Cork, lies a ringfort that has essentially vanished from the surface of the earth, yet continues to be documented, measured, and described.

There is nothing to see. No bank, no ditch, no trace of the circular enclosure that once occupied this ground. The site exists now almost entirely in the records of those who visited before the land consumed it.

A ringfort, sometimes called a rath or lios, is a type of enclosed farmstead typical of early medieval Ireland, generally dating from roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries. They usually consist of a raised earthen bank surrounding a circular interior, often accompanied by an outer ditch. The Tullig More example was apparently a substantial one. Writing in 1918 to 1919, a local observer named O'Leary recorded it as a lios with a fence six feet high and a surrounding trench six feet deep, dimensions that would have made it a reasonably prominent feature in the landscape. Casey, working in 1983, estimated the enclosure at approximately 44.5 metres across in both directions, placing it comfortably within the larger end of the ringfort scale. By that point, however, something had already begun to obscure the picture: the 1933 Ordnance Survey six-inch map marks the site not as the expected circle but as a hachured L-shaped area, a cartographic curiosity suggesting the surveyors themselves were reading a partially degraded or ambiguous form on the ground. Today, no visible surface trace remains at all.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort (Rath), Tullig More, Co. Cork. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement