Ringfort (Rath), Moods, Co. Kildare

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Moods, Co. Kildare

What looks at first glance like an ordinary Kildare field boundary turns out, on closer inspection, to be the eroded outline of an early medieval ringfort, its circular geometry still legible in the pasture despite centuries of agricultural use. A rath, to use the Irish term, is an enclosed farmstead of the early medieval period, typically defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches surrounding a central living area. This one sits near the top of a long, gently falling slope that faces north-west, a position that would have offered its original occupants a clear view across the surrounding countryside.

The enclosure measures 53 metres across the interior, which places it comfortably within the typical size range for a single-family farmstead of its period. It is defined by a low inner bank, a shallow outer fosse, and the remains of a second outer bank visible along the north-east to east-south-east arc. A fosse is simply a ditch, and here it runs from the south-east around through the south-west and north-north-west, reaching between 30 and 70 centimetres in depth. The inner bank has been heavily altered along the southern side, where it has been absorbed into a field boundary and reinforced with hedging, which accounts for why it reads differently there than along the northern arc. Two gaps break the inner bank. The one at the north-east, about 2.5 metres wide and lined with revetting stones along its southern edge, is considered the original entrance. A second gap slightly to the east appears to be a later modification. A field boundary that may be contemporary with the ringfort itself meets the monument at the north-north-west, suggesting the surrounding landholding was already being organised at roughly the same time the enclosure was built.

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