Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In a thicket of overgrowth, on land planted with forestry, located on a low E−W ridge.
A roughly circular, raised area or platform (26.5m N-S; 29m E-W) defined at W−NW by an earthen bank (Wth 4-5m, int. H 0.65m; ext. H 1.3m, at W), largely reduced elsewhere around the circuit to a scarp (ext. H 1.8m at E, 2.8m at N). Outside the bank/scarp it is enclosed by a fosse (Wth 3.6m, at E and SSW) with an external bank (Wth 7-8m; int. H 1.3m; ext. H 1.7m, at E and SSW). The external bank is quite substantial in appearance, and seems to be enhanced by the natural slope.
The rath shows evidence of having been modified and incorporated into field walls associated with a vernacular farmstead, now ruined, which is located immediately to S.
At N−NE the external bank has been removed, at E its outer edge is overlain by a straight N−S field fence, and on the SE arc the fosse and external bank are truncated by a now ruined/collapsed field wall on a NE−SW axis.
The W arc of the fosse and external bank is incorporated into a trackway that continues to N and S beyond the rath: The fosse was used as the route of the track and the external bank was adapted to serve as a field fence by revetting its inner slope with drystone facing. The ruins of a small stone-built vernacular building abut the external face of the external bank at SSW.
The interior is level. A low area or gap (Wth 3m) in the enclosing scarp at SE has a ramp-like slope, flanked on the S side by a large stone. This may be an original entrance. At the extreme E of the interior, a straight E-facing scarp (H 0.7m), on a roughly N-S axis, cuts across the top of the rath bank/scarp; this is probably the result of modification of the rath in the modern era.
The rath is engulfed in dense blackthorn, hawthorn, ash trees and brambles. Several animal burrows are evident. A possible rath (MA062-054----) is located c. 130m to WSW.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 30 November 2020