Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, prominently sited on the flat summit of a steep-sided gravel knoll, with panoramic views in all directions, to S over undulating grassland and to N and NE over flat expanses of bog.
Raised oval area (44.3m NE-SW; 28.6m NW-SE) defined by a scarp (Wth slope 3.8m at NNW, 3.4m at S; H 1.85m at NNW, 1.6m at S), poorly defined on the E side. The rath occupies almost the entire available space on the hill summit, leaving only a narrow rim of ground that forms a berm or terrace (Wth 2m) at the base of the enclosing scarp. From the edge of this terrace the sides of the knoll fall away abruptly and steeply, steepest on the SW−W side. The terrace is most clearly defined on the N and S sides of the rath; at ESE-SE it appears to have been partly quarried out in the past. A field fence, on a roughly N-S axis, traverses the W slope of the knoll and truncates or merges with the rath scarp at SW−W; the outer terrace is not evident here.
The W half of the interior is level, with an uneven surface; slight linear features on a NNE−SSW axis may be remnants of cultivation ridges. There is a marked slope down from centre to the ESE-SE towards the enclosing scarp. The entrance is at the ENE, where there is a ramp-like slope merging with the knoll slope; the lower portion has been quarried away. According to local tradition, there was ‘stone table at the top of the fort’; it is uncertain what this was, but no stone feature is now evident.
The interior is grassy, with hazel and hawthorn on the perimeter at E−SE and gorse at SW−W.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 26 January 2021