Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Internal diam. 19.5m
This circular univallate rath is densely overgrown and could not be inspected in any great detail. It lies in poor, wet pastureland on a gentle E facing slope overlooking the valley of a tributary of the Owenascaul river. The external fosse is c. 3.4m wide at base and 1.2m deep below the external ground level. A field fence skirts its outer edge along the SE and S sectors. The earthen bank is a maximum of 3m high externally and c. 0.9m high internally. Drystone facing occurs intermittently along its inner face. The entrance consists of a c. 1.2m wide gap in the bank at SE. The fosse is not clearly defined in this area and no causeway is discernible. A single stone set on edge on the NE side of the entrance suggests that the latter may formerly have been faced with drystone walling. Two low, crescent-shaped banks of stone in the interior may be the remains of 2 huts.

The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 398. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 6 August 2013