Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on a low rise with a gentle SE-facing slope.
A circular area (diam. c. 25m) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 3.7m; int. H 0.45m; ext. H 1.2m at NW) and a fosse (Wth 4m), with an external bank (Wth 1.7m; int. H 1.4m; ext. H 0.6m) at SE–NW.
The inner bank is best preserved on the NW half, but has been reduced to a scarp on the SE half. The fosse is well defined around the full circuit. The external bank can be traced only on the W half, and is rather low and insubstantial in appearance, except for a short section on the SE arc which is noticeably broader (Wth 2.5m). Traces of an old farm trackway (shown on the 1930 OS 6-inch map) skirt the rath at SW–NW immediately outside the external bank. It is possible that the external bank is not an original feature, but a later field boundary enclosing the rath, or it may constitute the remnants of an original bank or counterscarp which was modified in recent times. A break (Wth 2m) in the inner bank at NE, largely obscured by overgrowth, may mark an original entrance. There is another break or low area (Wth 2.4m) at N. The rath is ringed with hawthorn and holly trees, and the interior is engulfed in a dense thicket of brambles.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 4 February 2020