Garranes Ringfort, Co. Cork, and its contemporary ringfort landscape

Project Description

This project forms part of a larger landscape study directed by Prof. William O’Brien (The Iverni Project). The primary focus of the study is the settlement and ritual landscape in the vicinity of Cashel Hillfort, Co. Cork. The current project explores the use of this landscape in the first millennium AD. The settlements of these later centuries are archaeologically very visible, typified by the ubiquitous ringfort.

Ringforts are numerous in the area, though only one has been excavated. Both the impressive morphology and excavated assemblage suggest that this site, Lisnacaheragh ringfort in Garranes townland (now generally referred to as Garranes ringfort), comprised a high status enclosure. This ringfort suggests the existence of a powerful, organising elite and flourishing local community. Early historical and literary texts confirm the presence of a wealthy ruling elite in this region, the Eóganacht Raithlinn. Garranes ringfort has been proposed as the seat of power for this group by scholars such as historian John Ryan and Garranes excavator Seán P. Ó Ríordáin (1942). It would seem, then, that the landscape surrounding Garranes ringfort was a socially and politically important one, making it a logical focus for this study.

The number and distribution of ringforts across the study area reflect a concentrated and, perhaps, controlled exploitation of the landscape. The soils of the area are very suitable for agriculture and the presence of so many farmsteads suggest that its Early Medieval occupants were well aware of this. Such a sound agricultural base would have been a key factor in the rise to power of the ruling people of this area, the Eóganacht Raithlinn. The most valuable resource in the area, after the fertile agricultural land, is the communications network provided by the system of rivers and streams in the locality, with the Bandon and its tributaries to the south, and the Bride and its tributaries to the north.

The archaeological record from the area reflects the continued use and significance (social, political, economic) of this landscape over several millennia. Much of this may relate to its strategic location between two river valleys, its plentiful drainage and good agricultural soils. These elements may have contributed to the construction of a tribal centre at Cashel hillfort in the Late Bronze Age. That this specific area continued to be exploited in later centuries, and maintained its political importance, is evident in the siting of the Early Medieval ’royal’ site of Garranes just 11km to the northwest, the presence of two ringforts approximately 500m from the hillfort (96:33 and 96:35), and the discovery of a sherd of imported B-ware (also found at Garranes) during fieldwalking adjacent to the hillfort. The social and political importance of this native seat of power was well represented on the landscape and widely recognised in contemporary documents during the Early Medieval period.

Contact Details

Dr Michelle Comber ( profile)

Department of Archaeology,

School of Geography and Archaeology, NUI, Galway

Contact: michelle.combernuigalway.ie

Funding Bodies

The Iverni Project – IRCHSS, Royal Irish Academy

Links

Excavation summaries for Cashel Hillfort in 2005 and for Garranes in 1990 and 1991 are available online

Project Publications

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