The one at Carrowmore in County Clare is a case in point: a rath, which is simply the Irish term for a roughly circular earthwork enclosure, typically dating from the early medieval period and understood to have served as a farmstead or high-status dwelling surrounded by a raised bank and ditch.

Raths were built and occupied broadly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, though many were later reused or modified. The earthen banks that defined them served a practical purpose, keeping livestock in and predators or rival neighbours out, but the form also carried social meaning. The density of ringforts across Clare reflects how intensively the landscape was farmed and settled during those centuries, and placenames containing the element "carrow", derived from the Irish "ceathrú" meaning a quarter or division of land, hint at the administrative organisation that once structured these townlands. Carrowmore itself, meaning something like "the big quarter", appears in several counties and typically signals a sizeable land unit with a long history of occupation.