Ringfort

The ringfort at Rathrar in County Roscommon, Ireland
The Grianán Ailigh in County Donegal, Ireland, is one of the more impressive stone-walled ringforts.

Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales and in Cornwall, where they are called rounds.[1] Ringforts come in many sizes and may be made of stone or earth. Earthen ringforts would have been marked by a circular rampart (a bank and ditch), often with a stakewall. Both stone and earthen ringforts would generally have had at least one building inside.

  1. ^ "Flying Past - The Historic Environment of Cornwall: Enclosed Settlements". www.historic-cornwall.org.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2018.