Ringfort

Dating mainly to Early Medieval Ireland, this protected farmstead is a settlement style which was used all the way from possibly as far back as the late prehistoric period up until the post-medieval period. They are the most common archaeological monument surviving in Ireland (next to fulachta fiadh) with up to 60,000 surviving examples remaining; most of these dating to between 550-900AD.

Ringforts are circular areas that are usually enclosed with one or more earthen banks. People lived in wooden and stone thatched huts in the interior of the fort, with the inhabitants of the ringforts largely self-sufficient through their farming practices. Our reconstructed example is surrounded by a timber palisade, a common ringfort feature that may have provided defence as well as a means of containing livestock living inside the settlement.