Ringforts

Ringforts
• Introduction
• Distribution and Socio-Economic Model
• Chronology
• Hughes’ Lot East Multivallate Ringfort: human factors
• Case Study: Deerpark Farms
• Summary

Ringforts: introduction
• Normally considered to be dwelling places
• Circular earth and stone structures that houses and huts were built within
• Some defensive features but, unlike castles, not built to withstand sieges.
– Probably to withstand small raiding parties until nearby help arrived

• Banks made from ditch material
– or cashel walls from stone
• Could have been used for controlling and protecting livestock
– Rustlers
– Predators
• Enclosure probably also a status symbol
– Early Irish law indicates that a base client had to build and maintain the ‘Dun’ of his flaith (lord)
• Enclosing the home: a territorial and privacy statement
• Some protection from the elements

• Normally built of readily available materials: earth and stone
• Ditch is outside the innermost bank
– Unlike burial barrow or ritual site
• Sometimes more than one bank and ditch: multivallate
• Like modern rural houses, often placed in locations that were probably the best compromise between
– Views
– Shelter
– Warmth
– Drainage
– Access via roads, lakes etc.
• Proximity to:
– Workplace
– Family
– Neighbours
– Social or religious centre
– Drinking Water
– Food
– Other resources like timber etc.

Ringfort distribution: insular
• Up to c. 50,000 ringforts known from maps and field survey
• Most numerous archaeological monument in Ireland
• Many still highly visible
• M Stout believes broadly representative of EMA settlement patterns
• Survival might have been greater in medieval Gaelic regions
• Tradition, beliefs and superstition: ‘fairy forts’
• Some studies of cropmarks in Leinster demonstrate destruction prior to OS c. 1840
• Some of the best soil areas have low density of ringforts
• Less common in mountainous areas

Ringforts: size matters
What is the due of a king who is always in residence at the head of his tüath? Seven score feet [43m] of perfect feet are the measure of his [internal] stockade on every side. Seven feet [2m] are the thickness of its earth—work, and twelve feet [4m] its depth. It is then that he is a king, when ramparts of vassalage surround him. What is the rampart of vassalage? Twelve feet [4m] are the breadth of its opening and its depth and it measure towards the stockade. Thirty feet [9m] are its measure outwardly.
From Irish law text Crith Gablach c. 700AD Stout 1997
• Irish law was schematic and probably aspirational rather than strictly adhered to
• But these measurements conform broadly with the archaeological evidence
– Average ringfort internal diameter is c. 30m
– But some of those at royal centres like Rathcroghan are much larger
– Cashels (stone ringforts) tend to be smaller

Ringforts, landscape and society: SW midlands model based on results of detailed study
• High status bivallate ringfort close to church centre
• Provides focus and possible defensive support for smaller upland ringforts
• Large but lesser status multi-functional ringforts are focus for other clusters of low status ringforts
– And might provide resources or specialist services (e.g. metalworking) for high status site
• Ringfort size, number of enclosures, distance from others, proximity to important facilities (e.g. church or road), artefacts produced etc. said to represent hierarchical society

• Study of Clogher ringforts and environs Note proximity of royal ringfort to church, major roads, and rivers
EMA Tuath: Social and Economic Model
Stout 1997

• Like Early Irish Law: very schematic
• But accords well with early texts and with ringfort and church distribution studies
• Prior to Vikings Irish economy and settlement was overwhelmingly rural:
• And dispersed farmsteads rather than villages
• Or ‘dispersed villages’
Ringforts: Farmsteads

• Fields radiating from ringfort near Newbliss, Co. Monaghan
Ringforts: intervisibility for defence in depth
• Study of overlapping ‘visual territories’ in Braid Valley, Co. Antrim Stout 1997
• All ringforts were in this study visual ‘contact’ with at least one other
– Some with as many as 17 others

Ringforts: chronology
• Radiocarbon and dendrochronology dates from settlement types
• Most ringforts constructed between 600-900AD
• Some, like Feerwore Co. Galway, said to be Iron Age but dating evidence inconclusive.
• Some occupied until end of Middle Ages

Bivallate Ringfort at Hughes’ Lot East, Cashel, Co. Tipperary
• Approximately 18% of ringforts are bivallate
• Female skeleton from inner ditch
(skull damaged on discovery)

The dog at Hughes’ Lot East (2003)
• Ditch had partly silted up before the pit was cut as a dog grave
• Worker and Pet?

Inside the Ringfort: Case Study of Deerpark Farms, Co. Fermanagh

• Ringfort 25m in diameter
• Stone-paved entrance at E directly to door of main 7m building from 8th century AD
• Visitors directed to public space
• Like parlour?
• Figure of 8 layout: also known from ritual sites and conjoined Iron Age burial sites
Deerpark Farms: unusual preservation of internal structures
• Site became waterlogged: anaerobic preservation of organic materials – especially wooden structures
• Evidence for c. 25 houses within central area (but only a handful standing at any one time)
• Collapsed old house roofs, frames, walls etc. were left in situ and new ones built above these
• Site became elevated as a result of this: like a ‘tell’ site
• Water table rose and preserved organic material

South side of the mound encased in stone in the penultimate phase of heightening (note water table is above lowest level of site)
• The nature of the evidence from the 8th century settlement would be broadly in line with the EIL status of a modest free farmer
• But the later stone revetments could suggest that their descendants were of, or aspired to, higher status – that of ‘Cashel’ or ‘Dun’ dwellers
Example of a ‘cashel’ or stone ringfort atLeacanabuaile, Co. Kerry: probably higher status than earthen one (unless land is stony)

Front of waterlogged remains of Deerpark 7m house
Pit in entrance is where doorjambs were removed

Doorjambs of 4m house
• Dated by dendrochronology to 648 AD
• Older than earliest Carbon 14 result from this phase
• Probably re-used from earlier house
• As the jambs from 7m house were later

Figure of 8 arrangement at rear of 7m house

Reconstruction of wicker house based on Deerpark Farms evidence
Wicker was woven like a very large basket

The walls of the 7m house had cavity insulation between inner and outer wickerwork walls(black layer above ranging rod)
This was created by packing moss, straw and heather into the void

• Deerpark Farms model of 7m house and annexe
• Note cavities
• And central hearth:
• Constantly lit for heat, cooking, light?

Last from Deerpark Farms
• Left foot but for making right shoe:
• Stitched when over the last and then turned inside-out to wear
• Worn-out shoes found during excavation

Iron candle holder that was set at end of (mobile) stick

Small Shears: variety of purposes
• Human hair cut at both ends was found in midden (rubbish) pits

Souterrains: beneath some ringforts
Next Week

Ringforts: summary
• Circular ditch and bank enclosures within which houses and other structures were built
– Normally made of earth and stone
– Sometimes mainly stone – cashels
• Vast majority are between 15 and 45 metres in internal diameter
• Normally only produce modest finds
• Large multivallate ringforts produce higher status finds
• Vast majority were probably dispersed family farmsteads
• Main period of construction c. 600-900AD
• Houses and huts were almost always made of timber
– Little survives other than postholes and hearths
• But unusual preservation conditions at Deerpark Farms has provided much evidence for construction and use
– And has demonstrated considerable correlation with descriptions from 7th century Irish texts
• Like all settlements, their location in the landscape was influenced by a number of factors
• There is some evidence for a ringfort hierarchy that might reflect the prevailing social system
• Even though they must be used carefully, Early Irish texts are a very useful and interesting aid to archaeology


Recommended Reading: Early Medieval Settlements

Edwards, N. (1990) The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland. Routledge, London
Stout, M. (1997) The Irish ringfort. Four Courts Press. Dublin.
Deerpark Farms (EHSDOENI): http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/built/monuments/deerPark001.shtml

Very good value and indispensable companions for Early Medieval Ireland archaeology scholars or enthusiasts:
• Kelly, F. (1988) A Guide to Early Irish Law. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Dublin.
• Kelly, F. (1998) Early Irish Farming. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Dublin.