Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

On a N-S ridge amidst the rolling foothills E of the Goul river valley. There are very good views in all directions, especially towards the plain to the W and the low land to the E. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 365) refers to this as, 'Tincashel (Tigh an Chaisil), i.e. the House of the Caiseal or stone fort. The caiseal, which is still perfect, occupies the point of a hill 469ft. over the sea-level. It is said to have been the residence of a "King paramount," but whether his kingdom included all Ireland, or was confined to Munster or Ossory is unknown'. The monument is heavily overgrown with trees and scrub. It consists of a roughly circular (overall diam. on 25-inch OS map c. 51m N-S; c. 53m E-W) platform (H c. 1.5-2m), berm (Wth c. 2m) and outer bank (Wth c. 1.5m; int. H 0.3-0.4m; ext. H 0.8m), though this only survives intermittently. The scarp of the platform and both faces of the outer bank contain large amounts of tumbled water-worn stone, suggesting that these faces were originally revetted. A field boundary runs NE-SW up to the monument and continues along the bank from ENE-S-SW.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 28 May 2019

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.