Early Christian Ring Fort – Clement Wilson Park
This “rath” or “fort” is typical of an early Christian fortified farm and there are many throughout Ireland. St Patrick came to Ireland about 432 AD and along with a number of other people brought Christianity to Ireland. These forts date back to that time and beyond so many of them would be approximately 1500 years old. The forts were really farms and were usually built on raised land as in this case. The raised mound where the trees are would have contained houses for humans and animals.
In many cases they are located close to sources of food and water which was obviously very important. Rivers and the sea were both sources of food and communication because travel by water was much easier than travel by land. In this case the River Lagan would have provided a good source of food. The farmers usually had small fields outside the fort where they grew crops. They had several different varieties of grain and they also grew peas, beans, onions and celery and kept animals including cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, hens and bees. Geese and dogs were kept as well and both of these proved to be very useful for guarding the property. The cattle herds were the most important mainly because they were a source of milk which was a very important part of the diet.
The forts were built mainly to keep the animals safe but also to help defend the families themselves from other people.
There was a ditch built around the fort. It was mainly to keep the animals from escaping and to protect them from cattle raiders. It was also there to stop wild animals from coming in. In those days there were still a lot of wolves around.
It would not have been a very strong defence against raiders because they could have easily climbed the banks.
As it was being dug out the soil was piled up on the bank to make it even steeper. Sometimes they built a fence round the top of the bank as well. The cattle would have been let out during the day and brought in at night. They had small leaf-shaped fields.
These forts were lived in from approximately 500 AD until about 1200 AD. ( text from the Lagan valley website)
A small tab lock box hidden well out of sight in the popular Clement Wilson Park. Please be aware of old barb wire near GZ .