Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on top of a NNW−SSE ridge in sharply undulating, hilly landscape. There is a short, steep fall of ground into a wettish hollow to NE, beyond which ground rises again, and a similar fall of ground on the SW side towards a stream which is 125m to W. Views are good but not extensive. A farmstead/farmyard lies immediately to SW.
Broadly oval platform (36m N−S; 30.3m E−W) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 4.5m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 1.8m at NNW, 1.6m at S) at SE−SSW and at NNW−N, reduced elsewhere to a scarp (2.7m at NE, 2.9m at W).
The bank/scarp was modified to serve as a field boundary in the relatively recent past, and is cut quite vertically on the external slope around most of the circuit, with remnants of stone facing, now largely tumbled, evident in parts. Field fences radiate out from the rath at NW, NE and SW. There are several narrow eroded gaps in the scarp (Wth c. 1m) at NE and S, and a larger break (Wth 2m) at NNW.
According to local information, the interior was tilled and used as a garden plot in the past; traces of cultivation ridges oriented NW−SE axis can be seen.
The perimeter is thickly ringed with hawthorn and blackthorn trees. Part of the ridge slope immediately to SW of the rath has been cut away.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 6 August 2021