Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, utilising a low rise. There is a drain/stream 25-30m to SW. Ground rises to S and falls to N.
Raised circular area (32m E−W; 35m N−S) defined by an inner bank, immediately outside which it is enclosed by a fosse and external bank. The inner bank (Wth 5m; int. H 0.6m; ext. H 3.2m at NW, 2.8m at NE) has remnants of drystone facing on its inner slope. Its external slope drops steeply into the fosse (Wth 3m), which is deeply cut and well defined around the circuit. The external bank (Wth 2.8m at NW, 3.5m at NE; int. H 1 at NW, 1.5m at NW; ext. H 0.6m at NW, 0.9m at NE) is well defined on the N half; on the S half it is adapted to serve as a field boundary, and is topped with a stone wall.
There are two gaps in the inner bank: at ESE (Wth 2.4m) and at W (Wth 1.4m), both with a causeway across the fosse. At W the causeway leads to a broad corresponding break in the external bank; this is used as the current access to the rath. The gap and causeway at SE, which may have been an original entrance, are now blocked on the outer edge of the fosse by a bank/field fence incorporated into the line of the external bank.
In the NW quadrant of the interior, there is a grassed-over hollow or depression (4m NE−SW; 1m NW-SE; D 0.3m) with a number of slabs and boulders protruding from it; its significance is uncertain. A number of large stones, in a rough arc, protrude from the grass adjacent to the inner face of the bank at N, also of uncertain significance. There are traces of cultivation ridges on a NE−SW axis across the interior.
The inner bank is ringed with gorse and some blackthorn, which is encroaching in parts into the interior. The fosse and outer bank are cloaked in gorse, brambles, blackthorn and hawthorn, especially dense on the S arc where the outer bank serves as a field boundary.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 10 September 2020