Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In average pasture, located on a rise overlooking an inlet on the SW side of Killala Bay. The ground falls away gently to SE for 50m to the shoreline. There are good views over the surrounding gently undulating coastal pasture and over Killala Bay.
Slightly raised, oval area (30.6m NNW–SSE; 26.5m ENE–WSW) enclosed by a bank, largely reduced to a scarp. At S–W the bank appears as a broad, low earthen rise (Wth c. 4-5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 1.4m at W) with stones protruding randomly from the top and external slope. Elsewhere the bank survives as a scarp, retaining a slight internal lip in parts.
The interior ground level appears higher in the NW quadrant. A later field boundary on a NE–SW axis, shown bisecting the centre of the interior on the 1922 OS 6-inch map, has been removed. Remnants of another field boundary extend on a NNW–SSE axis across the W edge of the interior. Intersecting with the latter, at its NW end, is a low stony sod-covered rise (L 8-10m NW–SE; 1.4m NE−SW; H 0.2m) which extends on a roughly NW−SE axis, through the centre of the interior. There is a break (Wth 4m) in the bank at W, from which a shallow depression extends for c. 6m to E into the interior. A field fence, on a NE–SW axis, clips the external slope of the bank at SE–S, and the remnants of another field fence, on a roughly N–S axis, abut the external face of the bank at S–W.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 6 December 2018