Great video! Would live to travel there. We have similar structures from the period (called Rounds in English or Castell in Cornish) but they are never so well preserved and rarely excavated- great to see in such a beautiful place!
I would love to visit Cornwall. One day I will. Most Irish ringforts have not been excavated, but in South Kerry a number of cashels have been (fortunately). Perhaps because the stone forts attract more attention from archaeologists and in this part of Kerry there is a lot of stone :-) The earth ringforts elsewhere are rarely excavated.
Thank you for that... a grand tour. Had one thought, you mentioned that the ring forts are generally found on upper ground away from bogs and I'd say a significant contributing factor to their choosing such spots may have been midges - they bother you far less on a breezy hillock and going anywhere near a bog would surely be intolerable on an evening in the warmer months. There are other obvious advantages to higher ground with line of sight etc. but for day-to-day life, well, there are few things worse than being sat in a cloud of midges so I'm sure they considered them.
It is funny you mention midges. I had a conversation the other day with someone from Dromod where the midges are terrible. He said that when he was young there were no midges and they had appeared due to the (pine) forestry plantations, which apparently attract midges. There might be something in that. I think one of the reasons for building on uplands was that it was in the middle of good grazing lands for cattle. Second, most forts on better land and on land that has since been urbanised have been lost. Dun Laoghaire in Dublin is one such place. The density of forts (raths, and cashesl) in Iveragh is very low, essentially because the land is so mountainous the population remained lower than elsewhere. There are still a lot of secrets to uncover
@@forasfeasa r.e. Pines, now there's a thing... I can believe that, thinking back to places where I've found them particularly bad on my travels - Ballyvenaught dolmens... set in a boggy patch of land 50yds from a pine plantation. Hum. Interesting.
@@JesseP.Watson I had never thought of it until it was mentioned to me. Unfortunately most forestry in Ireland is now pine plantations, but having been in Killarney national park and in Glanleam in Valentia, neither has a problem with midges....
@@forasfeasa Mmm, I associated them with boggy ground, same as mosquitos. I wonder if that association is due to pine forests building up sphagnum moss and holding moisture, also simply acting as a wind break to allow midges to accumulate... as opposed to open fields or moorland with open airflow and less humidity. So rather than the pines themselves, I wonder if its those secondary effects they can have which provide opportunity for midges to... set up camp.
@@JesseP.Watson To me it makes sense, but it is way beyond my field of expertise and even further outside my comfort zone... I brought my daughter to a Gaelic match in Dromod and we were eaten alive by midges. Total nightmare!
Loved the video. A must go! Thank you
Go raibh maith agut
Thank you for this wonderfully informative video! The views are beautiful, the structures intriguing, and the whole effect is very peaceful. 👏👏❤️
You are very welcome. I am really glad you liked it so much and especially that you found it so peaceful!
Excellent video...Loher Fort is now on my must-see list!
Glad you liked it. If you go to Loher, be sure to look for the monastic site about 300m above it. (I'll be making a video about this in a few weeks)
Enjoyed the video. Well done! Relaxing and informative. Cleared a few things up for me regarding ring forts.
You are very welcome Larry. Glad I helped!!!
Great video! Would live to travel there. We have similar structures from the period (called Rounds in English or Castell in Cornish) but they are never so well preserved and rarely excavated- great to see in such a beautiful place!
I would love to visit Cornwall. One day I will. Most Irish ringforts have not been excavated, but in South Kerry a number of cashels have been (fortunately). Perhaps because the stone forts attract more attention from archaeologists and in this part of Kerry there is a lot of stone :-) The earth ringforts elsewhere are rarely excavated.
@@forasfeasa Chûn Castle and Carn Brea are the best ones to see !
@@hiccacarryer3624 Great to learn :-) They are on my list
Thanks my friend
Thank you for that... a grand tour. Had one thought, you mentioned that the ring forts are generally found on upper ground away from bogs and I'd say a significant contributing factor to their choosing such spots may have been midges - they bother you far less on a breezy hillock and going anywhere near a bog would surely be intolerable on an evening in the warmer months. There are other obvious advantages to higher ground with line of sight etc. but for day-to-day life, well, there are few things worse than being sat in a cloud of midges so I'm sure they considered them.
It is funny you mention midges. I had a conversation the other day with someone from Dromod where the midges are terrible. He said that when he was young there were no midges and they had appeared due to the (pine) forestry plantations, which apparently attract midges. There might be something in that. I think one of the reasons for building on uplands was that it was in the middle of good grazing lands for cattle. Second, most forts on better land and on land that has since been urbanised have been lost. Dun Laoghaire in Dublin is one such place. The density of forts (raths, and cashesl) in Iveragh is very low, essentially because the land is so mountainous the population remained lower than elsewhere. There are still a lot of secrets to uncover
@@forasfeasa r.e. Pines, now there's a thing... I can believe that, thinking back to places where I've found them particularly bad on my travels - Ballyvenaught dolmens... set in a boggy patch of land 50yds from a pine plantation. Hum. Interesting.
@@JesseP.Watson I had never thought of it until it was mentioned to me. Unfortunately most forestry in Ireland is now pine plantations, but having been in Killarney national park and in Glanleam in Valentia, neither has a problem with midges....
@@forasfeasa Mmm, I associated them with boggy ground, same as mosquitos. I wonder if that association is due to pine forests building up sphagnum moss and holding moisture, also simply acting as a wind break to allow midges to accumulate... as opposed to open fields or moorland with open airflow and less humidity. So rather than the pines themselves, I wonder if its those secondary effects they can have which provide opportunity for midges to... set up camp.
@@JesseP.Watson To me it makes sense, but it is way beyond my field of expertise and even further outside my comfort zone... I brought my daughter to a Gaelic match in Dromod and we were eaten alive by midges. Total nightmare!