What is a Ringfort?

What is a Ringfort?

What is a ringfort? Is it a fairy fort? A rath? A cashel? A lios?
Ringforts can be found all over Ireland. At least 47,000 exist. While some believe that date back to Irish prehistory, the vast majority date from the early Christian period (roughly 300-600AD). The name ringfort is a misnomer as they were actually fortified homesteads or farms. This video explains what ringforts are, looks are the different types – so you can distinguish between a cashel and a rath, and also at some controversies about them: their name, their dates (some remained in use until the early modern period)
#ringfort #ringofkerry #cashel #wildatlanticway #irishhistory #irisharchaeology #Kerry #ancienthistory #ancient #ireland #medieval
References
Allen, F, Whelan, K. and Stout, M. Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape. Cork University Press. 2011.
FitzPatrick, Elizabeth, 2009 “Native enclosed settlement and the problem of the Irish ‘Ringfort’” Medieval Archaeology, 53, 2009.
O’Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry. Cork University press. 1996
Stout, Matthew. The Irish Ringfort. Four Courts Press. 2023
Credit to : Foras Feasa: Exploring Irish History