Structure, Belview, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Utility Structures
Tucked inside the enclosed ground of a rath near Belview in County Galway, a small square structure survives in a state of near-total collapse, its outline just barely legible in the landscape.
A rath, sometimes called a ringfort, is a roughly circular enclosure defined by an earthen bank and ditch, constructed during the early medieval period and typically used as a farmstead or place of habitation. What makes this particular spot quietly unusual is that the rath contains not one such internal structure but three, arranged within its interior, suggesting a more complex pattern of use or occupation than the simple single-household model often associated with these sites.
This structure is the middle of the three. It measures approximately 4.3 metres north to south and the same east to west, giving it a roughly square footprint, though only fragments of that outline now remain. The western and northern walls survive to some degree, along with the northern end of the eastern wall, extending about two metres before the stonework gives out entirely. The whole is defined by moss-covered stones, low and indistinct, sitting around 2.7 metres to the south of the first of the three structures. Whether these buildings were contemporary with one another, or represent different phases of activity within the rath over time, is not something the physical remains alone can resolve.