Ringfort (Rath), Annagloor, Co. Cork

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Annagloor, Co. Cork

Between a functioning farm feature and a piece of early medieval engineering, the rath at Annagloor sits at the eastern end of a ridge in rough pasture, its double earthwork circuit still largely intact.

A rath is an earthen ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead common in Ireland from roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries, typically built to protect a family's home and livestock. What makes this one quietly interesting is the combination of its still-legible defensive logic and the signs of later, more mundane use: somebody, at some point, decided the enclosed interior was perfectly good for growing vegetables.

The site is roughly circular, measuring 37 metres north to south and 33.6 metres east to west, and is defined by two concentric earthen banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. The inner bank rises about 1.18 metres on its interior face and 1.65 metres on its exterior; the outer bank also reaches 1.65 metres externally, and the fosse between them drops to just over a metre in depth. These are modest but coherent dimensions, consistent with a middling-status enclosure. A causewayed entrance 3.2 metres wide opens to the south, the causeway itself faced on both sides with concrete blocks, a practical repair that sits a little incongruously against the prehistoric profile of the earthworks. In the south-west quadrant there is a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber often associated with ringforts, used variously for food storage or as a place of refuge.

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