Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

On moderate SSW-facing slope, in pasture, with excellent views from SE-S-W-NW, W side of monument forms townland boundary with Doonsouth. Depicted as a raised circular-shaped area enclosed by a wide berm on 1840 OS 6-inch map. On this map there was an OS Datum point of 610 ft. OD. Monument surveyed by the ASI in 1999 and described as a raised circular-shaped area (diam. 33m) enclosed by an earth and stone bank, fosse and an external bank with partial remains of an external fosse with counterscarp. A causewayed entrance (Wth 5m) at SE, appears original, although may have been widened in modern times. The inner bank (int. 0.2m; ext. H 0.65m; Wth 6.2m) is levelled and is largely reduced to a scarp and the intervening fosse (basal Wth 2.2m; overall Wth 5.8m; D 0.7m) is deep; both are visible all around. The intervening bank (int. H 0.7m; ext. H 0.2m; Wth 2.4m) is visible from NE-E-S-W-NW and is best preserved from W-NW. The partial outer fosse (basal Wth 2m; overall Wth 3.6m; D 0.4m) is visible from NE-E-SE and is shallower than the intervening fosse. A partial outer counterscarp (Wth 1m; H 0.2m) is visible from ESE-SE. A curvilinear field boundary runs around the base of the monument from S-W-NW. A short linear field boundary runs ESE-WNW across the intervening bank at NNW and cuts across the outer edge of the inner fosse from NNW-N-NNE. There is no trace of the monument to N of this boundary. The interior is level with external ground level at N and is raised on the SW side to compensate for hillslope. Monument is visible as a suboval-shaped, tree-lined enclosure on Digital Globe orthophotos taken 2011-13 and on Google Earth orthoimages taken 18/11/2018.

See attached Google Earth orthoimage

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 12 July 2020