Ringfort (Rath), Lurgan, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Rath), Lurgan, Co. Mayo

On the crest of a hill in Lurgan, Co. Mayo, a slight rise in the ground and a faint circular scarp are all that visibly mark what was once a fortified farmstead, probably well over a thousand years old.

From this elevation, the land falls away into a broad, open stretch of low-lying pasture and bog, a position that was almost certainly chosen for exactly that reason: anyone approaching could be seen from a considerable distance. The site is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the most common monument type surviving in the Irish countryside. These were enclosed farmsteads of the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, defined by a circular earthen bank and ditch that served as a boundary as much as a defence.

This particular rath measures approximately 57 metres north to south, placing it on the larger end of the typical range. The defining feature is a scarp, essentially a steep earthen slope rather than a built-up wall, and it survives unevenly around the circuit. To the north-north-west and north-east it remains relatively well-preserved, standing to about 1.3 metres in height with a slope some 8 metres wide, where it blends naturally into the hillside. Around the eastern and southern arc, however, centuries of agriculture have reduced it to little more than a subtle swelling in the turf. On the south-west to north-west side, the original earthwork has been absorbed into a field bank topped with a post-and-wire fence, a practical reuse of an ancient boundary that is common across Irish farmland. There is also a slight rise at the centre of the interior, which in some ringforts indicates the remains of a structure or earlier ground surface preserved beneath the soil.

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Pete F
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