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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Rathdonnell, County Mayo, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Rathdonnell, County Mayo, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Rathdonnell
County
Mayo
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
54.13536, -9.12083
SMR number
MA030-043----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

In undulating average pasture, located on a prominent rise, utilising the steep slopes on the W and S. There is an area of low-lying, wet ground to S-SE.
This rath is enclosed by three banks with intervening fosses. It consists of a broadly oval, raised area (40.6m E-W; 45.5m N-S) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 5.7m; int. H 0.8m; ext. H 2.9m) and enclosed by a fosse (Wth 4m) with external bank (Wth 7.7m; int. H 2.2m; ext. H 1.8m). The second fosse and outermost bank (Wth 3.4m; int. H 1.2m; ext. H 0.2m) survive in an arc at NNW−E, but are levelled elsewhere. The entrance consists of a gap (Wth 4.3m), with intermittent stone facing, in the inner bank at the E, with a ramp-like causeway across the innermost fosse, and a corresponding gap (Wth 3m) in the second bank. A slight causeway, flanked by sod-covered stones, is also evident in the second fosse, splaying outwards to a broad gap (Wth 7m) in the outermost bank.
The SW quadrant of the interior is at a slightly higher level that the rest of the interior. At the N edge of this raised area, a few meters from the enclosing bank, there is a surface depression (Diam. c. 2m; D 0.6m), possibly indicating a souterrain (MA030-043001-).
A road skirts the rath at W, truncating the outermost fosse and bank.
Another multivallate rath (MA030-041----) is located c. 200m to S, and a standing stone (MA030-044----) is located c. 500m to SE, both visible from this rath.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 16 April 2018

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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