Ardagh Fort is a
ringfort
Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...
(rath) and
National Monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure.
The term may also refer to a spec ...
in
County Limerick,
Ireland, famous as the discovery site of the
Ardagh Hoard
The Ardagh Hoard, best known for the Ardagh Chalice, is a hoard of metalwork from the 8th and 9th centuries. Found in 1868 by two young local boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, it is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. ...
.
Location
Ardagh Fort is located immediately west of the crossroads at
Ardagh, atop a hill above sea level, overlooking the
Daar River.
History
The hillfort dates to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, c. 1000 BC.
In late September 1868 two local boys, Jimmy Quin and Paddy Flanagan, were digging
potatoes
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
at the southwest edge of the fort — farmers often avoided forts, believing them to be abodes of the
Aos Sí (fairies), but they may have chosen the site in the belief that it would protect against
potato blight. There, they discovered the
Ardagh Hoard
The Ardagh Hoard, best known for the Ardagh Chalice, is a hoard of metalwork from the 8th and 9th centuries. Found in 1868 by two young local boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, it is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. ...
: a beautiful silver and gold
chalice, a stemmed copper-alloy cup, and four brooches, all from the 8th or 9th centuries AD. There was also a wooden cross from the
Penal era: it bore the inscription "727", presumably short for "1727", and the goods may have been concealed c. 1740.
Catholic Mass is said to have been said at the rath in the penal era.
Description
A rath with a high bank and deep ditch to the north and south; the east and west walls were never built. It covers .
See also
*
Ressad
Ressad or Ress refers to a now lost city and possibly also to a territory that is still unidentified but believed by scholars to have been somewhere within the borders of modern County Limerick in western Ireland, in what was once the territory of ...
References
Archaeological sites in County Limerick
National Monuments in County Limerick
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