Ringfort (Rath), Rathkip, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Ringforts
The earthen bank of this ringfort in Rathkip, County Mayo, is thickest and tallest on its southern side, a small but telling asymmetry.
Whether that reflects the direction from which its builders felt most exposed, or simply the accidents of later erosion, is an open question. Either way, the structure sits on a gentle rise in the landscape, and the view southward and south-westward toward the Brusna River would have made that positioning practical for whoever once lived within it.
Ringforts, known in Irish as raths when constructed of earth, are among the most widespread monument types in the Irish countryside, with tens of thousands recorded across the island. Most date from the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, and functioned as enclosed farmsteads, the circular bank and any accompanying ditch providing a boundary as much social as defensive. This example measures approximately 28 metres across on a north-south axis, with an earthen bank ranging from about 1.8 metres wide at the northern arc to 2.5 to 3 metres at the southern. The exterior height at the south reaches around 1.5 metres, while the inner face is eroded and low throughout. Numerous narrow gaps break the circuit, most of them now blocked by overgrowth or stones cleared from nearby fields over generations of agricultural use.
The interior is largely given over to brambles, ferns, and a dense growth of blackthorn concentrated in the western half, with hawthorn and blackthorn also colonising the bank itself. This kind of scrub cover is common on ringforts in pasture; the thorny growth tends to discourage grazing animals from disturbing what remains, which in practice makes neglect a modest form of preservation.