Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a low rise of firm ground in a low-lying expanse of damp, rush-grown pasture. Views rather restricted, most open to W where a rath (MA92-029----) is visible c.100m away on rising ground. Another rath (MA092-028----) is visible c. 260m to NE. There is a stream/drain immediately to W–NW, and another larger drain to E. The adjacent fields to E have been converted to forestry plantation.
A slightly raised, roughly circular area (35.5m N–S; 39.7m E–W) defined W–S by an earthen bank (Wth 3.3m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.5m), outside which it is enclosed by a fosse (Wth 1.3m) with external bank (Wth 2.4m; int. H 2.4m; ext. H 0.7m). The two banks have been levelled on the SW arc.
The enclosing banks have a rounded compact profile and the intervening fosse is relatively narrow. To N–NE a very shallow depression (Wth 1.8m) is evident outside the external bank, possibly indicating a second fosse. There is a break (Wth c. 2m) in the banks at NNE but it is not clear if this marks an original entrance.
The interior slopes down markedly from centre toward the S−SW. Two linear trenches bracket the levelled SW quadrant, one (Wth 1.8m, 0.7m at base; D 0.5m) extending from the scarp at S for 13.5m to N, and the other (Wth 1.7m; D 0.5m) extending from the scarp at WSW into the interior to ENE for 11.4m. They appear to be the result of relatively recent disturbance rather that evidence of a souterrain. At NW a rectangular stone-built structure (2m NE–SW; 2.4m NW–SE), of unknown function and now in ruins, is built into the scarp and partly overlies the fosse.
The rath interior is grassy with an uneven, hummocky surface; the banks are distinguished by a covering of heather, with a few trees growing around the perimeter.
Knox (1908, 110; 1911, 230) recorded that name of this rath as ‘Lisanaffrin’, and suggested that there may have been a mill (MA092-030002-) adjacent.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 23 February 2022

References

Knox, H.T. 1911 Some Connacht Raths and Motes. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 41, 205-40, 301-42.

Knox, H.T. 1908 The History of the County of Mayo to the close of the 17th century. Dublin.