Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on gentle NE-facing slope. Circular area (diam. c. 80m) enclosed by three banks with external fosse; rough grazing in interior, defences covered by trees. Identified as Ráth Raithleann, seat of rulers of Uí Eachach, branch of the Eoghanacht; excavated in 1930s by Seán P. Ó Ríordáin (1942, 77-150). According to excavator 'the most interesting part of the site was the entrance'; a series of postholes for wooden upright showed it was guarded by four, and possibly five, strong gates, one inside the other. A number of trenches were opened in the interior and, though numerous postholes were found, 'in no case was it possible to recover the plan of the houses which these post-holes represented'. However, a 'black habitation layer' was found which produced many finds. These included sixty bronze objects, a considerable amount of iron implements, clay moulds and crucibles, ten glass beads, three pieces of millefiori glass, a clay lamp, and imported pottery. The pottery was mostly sherds of amphorae ('A' wear) and fine red bowls ('B' wear) from the Mediterranean, with some of 'Gaulish' ('E' wear) origin. According to Thomas (1959, 104) the Garrances assemblage of imported pottery was 'nearer to 500 AD than 600 AD' in date.This accords with the excavators conclusions that 'the cumulative evidence of the finds points to 500 AD as the central date for the period of occupation'. The site is currently being excavated by Mary O'Donnell, UCC.

See Excavations 1990, 16 and Excavations 1991, 6.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 55/1937).