Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

An earthen bank and a fosse enclose this large D-shaped area, which is defined along its N sector by a 6m high meander scarp which extends for 58m. A number of low amorphous banks and mounds and a circular hut occupy the interior of the site. Measuring 85m NE-SW x 62m NW-SE internally, it overlooks the confluence of the Ferta river with one of its tributaries.

The enclosing bank, composed largely of earth, is somewhat disturbed and modified. It is capped for most of its E sector with modern stone walling. It averages 1m in internal height, has a basal width of up to 5m and falls 1.85m to the external fosse. The fosse is preserved intermittently and survives best along the SE and W sectors. Here it averages 3m wide at base and .45m deep below external ground level. The bank and fosse are gapped and disturbed in a number of places. A gap at ENE, 3m wide, may represent the original entrance to the enclosure.

The NW half of the site's interior is occupied by a number of low, grass-grown banks of stony composition. Some of these define a rectangular area, 32m NW-SE x 25m NE-SW, open to NW, within which is a meandering stretch of bank, a stony mound, c. 6m x c. 5m, with a high content of quartz, and the foundations of a sub-circular hut (KE070-054001-). The latter measures 6m in maximum internal diameter and its banks average 2m wide. Abutting the NW side of the rectangular area are a number of further banks, which join with a circular raised area close to the enclosing element of the site at NW. This is 1.15m high and measures 7m in average internal diameter. It may represent the remains of a second hut (KE070-054002-).

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 508. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 29 July 2013