Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, crowning the summit of a steep-sided hill in an area of sharply undulating hilly terrain. The rath encompasses much of the level space on the top of the hill; a narrow strip of relatively level ground surrounds the rath, giving way to a steep fall of ground on all sides. The location provides panoramic views.
The rath is not shown on 1838 OS 6-inch map; by the time of the 1906 edition, the rath had been incorporated into later field boundaries, and is indicated on that map as a subrectangular field.
Raised circular area or platform (55.5m N–S; 56m N–S) defined by an earthen scarp. At ENE–SE the scarp (H 1.5m at E, 1.8-2m at SE) serves as a field boundary: it is cut to the vertical, topped by a post and wire fence, and incorporated into the line of a linear field bank, which continues beyond the rath to SW. There is a narrow field ditch at the base of the scarp. Outside this, is a strip of level ground (Wth 4-5m), used now as a farm track, from the SE edge of which the hill slope falls steeply.
The enclosing scarp on the W half of the rath has been partly levelled to a broad, low slope (H 1m; Wth slope 5-6m), rather irregular in parts at SE-S. At N–NE a field bank (Wth 0.8-1m; H 0.8-1m) on a NW–SE axis skirts the rath, respecting its curve, with a gap (Wth 1.5-1.7m) intervening between the two. The rath interior is flat and featureless.

Attached images:
DG105-017----_01.JPG: Viewed from SW
DG105-017----_02.JPG: Enclosing scarp at NE, viewed from N

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 5 November 2019