This subcircular mound, measuring 30 metres across its interior and rising just half a metre above the surrounding ground, shows signs of recent disturbance; its uneven interior bearing the scars of unauthorised digging. Local tradition holds that these modest remains represent a ringfort, one of Ireland’s most common early medieval settlements.

Ringforts, or raths as they’re known in Irish, were the farmsteads of prosperous families between roughly 500 and 1200 AD. They typically consisted of a circular area enclosed by an earthen bank and external ditch, providing both status and a measure of security for the inhabitants and their livestock. The Lisnapaste example, whilst modest in its surviving height, fits the typical size range for these monuments; most ringforts had internal diameters between 20 and 40 metres.

The waterlogged position of this particular site is somewhat unusual, as ringforts were generally built on well-drained land suitable for farming. However, the strategic value of controlling a narrow strip of land between two loughs may have outweighed the practical disadvantages of the damp location. The recent digging that has damaged the interior is unfortunately all too common at archaeological sites across Ireland, where local folklore about buried treasure or “crock of gold” stories have led to destructive treasure hunting over the centuries.