Ringfort (Rath), Friarstown, Co. Limerick

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Friarstown, Co. Limerick

A ring of mature beech trees growing both along the perimeter and within the enclosure itself is usually the first thing that catches the eye at this low hill in Friarstown, County Limerick.

The trees have the effect of marking out the monument almost as neatly as the earthwork beneath them, and together they give the site an enclosed, slightly self-contained quality that sets it apart from the surrounding pasture.

The monument is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, which was the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically enclosing a farmstead and its associated buildings within a circular or oval bank. This particular example is oval in plan, measuring 31 metres east to west and 25 metres north to south, and is defined not by a raised bank in the conventional sense but by a scarped edge, meaning the ground inside the enclosure has been cut or shaped to sit slightly above the surrounding terrain. That scarp is roughly 2.8 metres wide and 0.8 metres high. A noticeable dip in the southern side, some 5 metres across, has been interpreted by Denis Power, who compiled the record uploaded in April 2013, as possibly the result of quarrying rather than an original entrance feature, though nothing in the record is definitive on the point. The site sits atop a low hill with open views to the east, south, and west, which would have made it a practical as well as a defensible location for whoever once lived here.

The fort sits within gently rolling farmland, and access to sites of this kind in rural Limerick typically depends on proximity to field boundaries and the goodwill of landowners. The beech trees, some of them substantial in size, are worth attention in their own right; they line the scarp closely enough that the relationship between the earthwork and the treeline becomes quite legible once you are standing on the ground. The slight elevation means the views noted in the record are still largely unobstructed, and on a clear day the horizon opens up considerably to the south and west.

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Pete F
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