Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on a rise, in gently undulating terrain overlooking the NW shoreline of Lough Con which lies 120m to E. It is on lands which were part of the demesne of Enniscoe House, an 18th-century country house.
Raised circular area (36m N-S; 36.5m E-W) defined by a bank (Wth c. 5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 1.5m), with remnants of stone facing in parts on the external face. The NE arc of the bank has been levelled. Immediately outside the bank at SE-W there is a terrace-like gap (Wth 3.5-4.5m) on the outer edge of which is a low, broadly slumped outer bank/scarp (Wth c. 5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.5m), which is planted with beech trees. This feature does not continue around the full the circuit: At its W end it veers inwards to merge with the inner bank at NW, and at its SE end it continues beyond the rath to E. It may be the remnant of an original fosse and external bank that was modified as part of the landscaping of Enniscoe demesne to serve as a field boundary, and incorporated into a small tree-planted enclosure shown appended to the S-SE of the rath on the 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch maps,
The rath interior is bisected centrally by a field fence on a NNE-SSW axis, and is traversed by remnants of cultivation ridges on a NW-SE axis. There is a castle (MA038-063001-) 290m to SE.

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 31 July 2019