Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on the E outskirts of Swinford town, located on top of a ridge, overlooked to W by a higher ridge, and with good views to N–NE and S over valleys of low lying ground.
Oval area (33m ENE–WSW; c. 25m NNW–SSE) defined by a stony earthen bank (Wth 2.2m; int. H 0.45m; ext. H 0.9m, at S). At N–E the bank is largely reduced to a scarp (ext. H 1.5m at NE), at E–SW it serves as a field boundary and has been faced with stone, and at W–NNW it has been quarried away leaving a steep, irregular, slightly concave slope (H 1.7m). A NNW–SSE field fence clips the W edge of the rath and at N a field fence on a roughly E–W axis skirts the scarp in a shallow arc. At NE two other field fences abut the rath. Stones protrude from the sod along the top of the bank/scarp and the inner edge of the scarp at NE is edged by three large stones. The rath interior is grass covered; hawthorn and gorse ring the perimeter.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 25 November 2020