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The Ballybane Ringfort is situated behind the Ballybane Shopping Centre which is about 600 yards from our school. The Ring Fort is important because it is the only one inside a modern city today. It probably belonged to a local chieftain and dates back to the 13th or 14th century. |
It was probably used as a protected farmstead by an early Irish farmer. Cattle were the chief source of wealth then and they would have been brought into the safety of the Ringfort at night out of danger from wolves and cattle thieves.
There is a lot of folklore attached to Ringforts. There was a time when most people believed that it was bad luck to interfere with or destroy a ringfort. There are about 25000 ringforts still left in Ireland today.