Ringfort, Castlebin, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Ringforts
On a prominent hillock in the grasslands of north Galway, an oval earthwork sits in a state of quiet, well-preserved survival.
What makes it worth a second look is its completeness: most ringforts, the circular or near-circular enclosed farmsteads that dot the Irish countryside in their thousands, have been reduced over centuries of ploughing and land clearance to little more than a faint shadow on an aerial photograph. This one retains its bank and scarp with enough clarity to read as a coherent structure.
A rath, to use the more precise term, was the standard form of enclosed rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of an earthen bank enclosing a domestic area where a farming family would have lived. This example at Castlebin measures roughly 44 metres on its longer axis and 37 metres across, giving it a notably oval rather than circular footprint. The bank runs from the east, around the south, and continues to the west-north-west, while a scarp defines the perimeter on other sides. A possible entrance has been identified at the west-south-west. The site was noted by Knox as far back as 1918, and though the surrounding landscape has continued to change around it, the earthwork itself appears largely intact. Two subrectangular hollows within the interior are considered modern in origin, most likely the result of later digging activity rather than anything connected with the fort's original use.