Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - rath
Ballyhowly, County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Ballyhowly
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Breens Fort
- Latest-edition OS map
- Breens Fort
- Coordinates
- 53.78482, -8.93082
- SMR number
- MA092-021----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In pasture, located on the gentle S–facing slope of a ridge. There are excellent views to S but rising ground restricts views northward.
Low circular platform (diam. c. 36m) defined by a scarp (H 0.55m), outside which it is enclosed by a fosse (Wth 2.2m) with an external bank (Wth c. 3.2m at N, c. 5m at S; int. H 1.5m at N, 0.7m at S; ext. H 0.2m at N, 1.6m at S). The rath appears to be built up on its S half to compensate for the natural slope, and the external bank has a markedly broad, external slump on its downslope S side.
A large part of the rath interior has been quarried out. A crescent-shaped strip (Wth c. 9m NE−SW) remains intact at NW–E, but elsewhere the interior is reduced to a stone-strewn area of pits and hollows, interspersed with mounds of quarry material. A concentration of large stones and prostrate slabs are scattered in the SW quadrant. The fosse is partly filled with quarry material and field clearance debris, and a section of the external bank is partly levelled or truncated at SW–NW. The rath entrance may have been to SE where there may be a causeway across the fosse, but dumps of displaced material make it difficult to confirm this.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 23 February 2022
Nearby in the register
- Barrow - pond barrowunder 1 mi
- Earthworkunder 1 mi
- Castle - tower houseunder 1 mi
- Bawnunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.