Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on top of a knoll with extensive views over pasture and bog. The surrounding fields are planted with forestry.
Raised, broadly oval area (36.4m E-W; 30.5m N-S) defined by an earthen bank, and enclosed by a fosse with an external bank. The inner bank (Wth 4.4m at S, 5m at N; int. H 0.2m at S, 0.1m at N; ext. H 2.5m at S, 2.8m at N) has a pronounced external scarp but retains only a slightly raised internal lip of earth and stone, which is almost entirely flush with interior ground level in parts at S and NW. The fosse (Wth 2.5m at S, 3m at N) is shallow but well defined. The external bank (Wth 3.5-4m at S, 2.2m at N; int. H 0.4m at S, 0.2m at N; ext. H 1.6m at S, 0.7m at N), which incorporates stones on its top and sides, has been removed at W−N, and a section at ENE−SE has been replaced by an earth and stone field fence. At N the fosse and external bank take the form of a terrace with a stony external scarp.
The interior is higher in the centre, sloping down from there toward the enclosing bank at N, E and S, giving the rath a slightly convex profile. The entrance is at the E where there is a gap (Wth 3.4m) in the inner bank, with a few stones protruding from the sod along its sides. It opens on to a ramp-like causeway across the fosse. The corresponding gap in the external bank is blocked by a later field fence. In the N half of the interior, close to the inner bank, there is a surface depression (max. dim. c. 4m), from which a narrow, irregular elongated gully (max. Wth 1m; D c. 0.4m) extends upslope to S for 4.5m toward the centre of the interior. This appears to be the result of disturbance.
The rath interior is grass covered; the perimeter is lightly ringed with hawthorn and blackthorn, densest in the outer bank at S.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 26 January 2021