Archaeologists estimate there are tens of thousands of ring forts in Ireland, more than the number of schools. Most of them are still hiding in the names of the places around us.
Today we open those names and find the forts that never left the map.
Watch as each town on the map opens. Listen for the short Irish word that peels off the front: you will hear it more than once.
We will look at the Europe map together. The Irish fort words you met sit at the front of a name. Across Europe, many languages mark a fortified place at the end of the name instead.
Listen together for endings like -burg (BOORG), -bury (BURR-ee) and -chester (CHESS-ter). You are noticing the same habit, not learning them by heart.
Hold one Irish name from earlier beside one European example: both mark a place named for a fort or fortified town.
Open your copy. Write two fort names from the board. Beside each, write dún (fort) or ráth (ring fort), and one short note about the rest of the name if you spotted it.
Pattern: [Full name]: [dún or ráth], [short note if you spotted the rest]
Worked examples (left on the board):
dún = fort | ráth = a ring fort
Rathmines, Rathfarnham and Rathgar all begin with ráth, the word for a ring fort. Across rural Ireland, thousands of those circular banks are still plain from the air even when the walls are long gone.
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