Rathgall Hillfort, Bronze Age hillfort in County Wicklow, Ireland

Rathgall Hillfort, known in Irish as An Ráth Gheal, is a multivallate hillfort 5 km east of Tullow in County Wicklow. Three roughly concentric stone ramparts enclose about 7.5 hectares, with a fourth masonry wall of medieval date at the centre forming a ring 35 m across. Excavations found a 15 m ring of postholes inside the inner ditch.

Rathgall was in use from the Neolithic through the Middle Ages, with interruptions, as finds from several millennia show. The three outer stone ramparts belong to the Bronze Age, while the inner wall, 35 m across, is medieval: coins of Edward I and Edward III date it to the 13th and 14th centuries. Barry Raftery's excavations of 1969–1975 were only partial.

The inner sections show traces of workshops where people made and used bronze items in daily life. These spaces reveal how important metalwork was to the community that lived here.

The site is publicly accessible and protected as an Irish National Monument with maintained walking paths. Wear sturdy shoes as you walk over grassy terrain and navigate around the stone structures.

Excavations at Rathgall recovered over 4,000 sherds of bowls and pots, not tens of thousands. Among the finds were 96 glass beads and ornaments of gold, jet, amber and lignite, plus a 15 m ring of postholes that Barry Raftery read as a house, though no roof evidence survives.