Social Structure
Ireland consisted of small kingdoms in four (originally five) provinces. Ties of kinship were important and there were grades of rich and poor. The landscape was peppered with churches, and ringforts, homes of the wealthy.
Wealth was measured in cattle; a stave-built, wooden dash-churn from Lissue, Co Antrim, illustrates the importance of dairying.
Image caption: Stave-built wooden churn with iron fittings from Lissue, Co. Antrim
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