Ringforts were fortifications built by First Men in antiquity.
Layout
Ringforts are rough-hewn, unmortared walls[1] of circular construction; the ancient ringfort atop Seal Rock at White Harbor, for instance, is a circle of weathered stones.[2] The ringwall at the Fist of the First Men crowns the top of the steep stony hill.[3]
History
As the First Men spread throughout Westeros building farms and villages, they ruled from ringforts from the Land of Always Winter to the Summer Sea.[4][5] The Fist of the First Men is said to have been a ringfort built during the Dawn Age.[6]
Some believe that Winterfell was once a complex of linked ringforts, though little evidence remains.[7] Old ruins of the First Men are found in the hills and bogs of Sea Dragon Point.[8]
House Casterly built a ringfort atop Casterly Rock.[9]
The Bloody Gate was once a rough-hewn, unmortared wall like the First Men's ringforts.[1]
Instead of ringforts, the First Men eventually began building stout motte-and-bailey forts and then stone castles.[10] Many stout stone-and-timber castles were built during the coming of the Andals to Westeros.[11]
The older ringforts have been abandoned[2] and left in ruins.[12] The ringfort at Seal Rock, for instance, has been abandoned for hundreds of years.[2]
Recent Events
A Clash of Kings
During the great ranging, the Night's Watch fortify the ringfort at the Fist of the First Men.[6]
A Storm of Swords
Wights overwhelm the ringwall and defeat the Watch in the fight at the Fist.[13]
A Dance with Dragons
House Manderly fortifies the ruins of the ringfort atop Seal Rock, placing scorpions and spitfires behind the standing stones and garrisoning it with crossbowmen.[2]
Quotes
The views atop the hill were bracing, yet it was the ringwall that drew Jon's eye, the weathered grey stones with their white patches of lichen, their beards of green moss. It was said that the Fist had been a ringfort of the First Men in the Dawn Age.[6]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Vale.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 15, Davos II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Prologue.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Age of Heroes.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 34, Jon IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The North: Winterfell.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 26, The Wayward Bride.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands: Casterly Rock.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Iron Kings.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: Storm's End.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 18, Samwell I.