Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - rath
Knockadangan, County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Knockadangan
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not Indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not Indicated
- Coordinates
- 54.11825, -9.28427
- SMR number
- MA029-060----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In level damp pasture with gently rising ground immediately to SW. The meandering River Deel curves in a broad loop SE-NW around the location at a distance of c. 400m, and Lough Conn is 1.8km to S. Views are good at W-NW, with Nephin visible to SSW, but are blocked now to NE-E by a band (Wth c. 4m NW-SE) of trees, which borders the N 59 Ballina-Crossmolina road on the SE side of the field. There is a rath (MA029-052----) 55m to NE.
This rath is not indicated on any edition of the OS 6 maps. It is visible in aerial imagery.
Originally circular (diam. 38.1m NE-SW) in plan, it has been partly levelled and is evident now as a low, semicircular platform defined at S-ENE by a scarp, immediately outside which at SW-NE is the ephemeral outline of an infilled fosse. The interior is flat, grassy and featureless.
The scarp has been levelled in the past to a low broadly slumped rise. It is best preserved at W-NW (ext. H 1.25m; Wth slope 6.4m). At ENE it terminates at a low earthen rise (probably a remnant of the original bank) on which an ash tree and two hawthorns grow. The scarp has been entirely levelled at E-SSE. The external fosse can be traced at SW-NE as a barely discernible dip/band of damp, soggy ground (Wth 4-5m). Outside the fosse at NE there is a strip of drier ground that hints at a levelled external bank, but this is very uncertain and can’t be traced elsewhere at ground level. At a distance of 8-10m out from the enclosing fosse, another band of damp ground/cropmark of richer green grass is evident in a broad arc NNW-E. This feature, probably an infilled ditch or fosse, is depicted as a dashed line on the OS 25-inch plan and 1922 OS 6-inch map. It is unclear if it is contemporary with the rath or represents a later feature that skirted the rath.
A concrete block wall on a NE-SW axis clips the E-SE perimeter of the rath, and the fosse probably at least partly underlies the band of trees that border the N59.
Notified to NMS by A-K Distel.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Nearby in the register
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Ritual site - holy wellunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.