Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on a rise in undulating terrain, with a stream/drain 100m to S. A N−S road borders the NW side of the field, a few meters NW of the rath.
Raised circular area (26.4m E−E; 27m N−S) enclosed by a stony earthen bank. The bank (Wth 3.7m at NNW, 2.8m at SSE; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 1.55m NNW, 0.75m at SSE) has a low internal face, especially on the E arc, where it is reduced almost to a scarp; there are several areas of erosion by farm stock. A gap (Wth c. 1.7m) at SE, now partly blocked at its outer edge by a heap of field clearance debris, may be the location of an original entrance.
The interior slopes down slightly to SSE. In the NW quadrant, there is a roughly square hollow (2m NW−SE; 2m NE−SW; D 0.3m), with a flat slab (L c. 1m; Wth 0.5m) protruding from the beneath the sod on the SE side. The hollow is bordered on the N side by a sod-covered heap (2m NE−SW; 1.5m NW−SE; H 0.4m) of stony soil, which appears to be upcast soil from the hollow, suggesting relatively recent disturbance. A very slight surface depression (Wth c. 1.5m) extends for c. 5m from the hollow to the inner face of the enclosing bank at NNW. These features might be indicative of a souterrain, but there is no definitive proof.
Grass cover, with moderate hawthorn and blackthorn on the perimeter at SE−S. Low heaps of field clearance stones are piled against the external face of the bank on the SE−S arc. There are two raths (MA040-023----; MA040-024----) 200m and 350m to SE, respectively, both visible from this rath.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 13 May 2020