Hut site

The National Monuments Service's description

Slieve Breagh is an ENE-WSW ridge (L of summit c. 500m) that is part of an NE-SW line of hills which extends from Rathkenny, Co. Meath almost to Dunleer, Co. Louth (L c. 15km). There are a number of summit ridges with high cols between them. Breagh is derived from Brega (the heights) which is also the name of the Meath territory. The E end of this summit and much of its S face in Creewood townland is now reclaimed pasture but the remainder in Rathbranchurch is unchanged from the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and preserves a collection of earthwork monuments consisting mostly of barrows and a few raths as well as some hut-sites that were recorded in the 1950s (de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe 1956).
The earthworks sometimes impinge on each other, but as the area is now largely overgrown with furze it is not possible to examine them closely to tease out any sequence of monument construction. This feature is isolated in the uncultivated land on the S-facing slope and it is S of the central complex of monuments around one of the raths (No. 16). It is described (ibid. 100, No. 18) as one of a group of oval features (dims 5.7m x 3.7m to 7.3m x 6.2m) defined by low earthen banks, frequently with an entrance gap. They might be hut sites or house sites but this feature could not be identified in 1984 (SMR file).

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 11/1956).

See the attached plan of the monuments from de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe (1956, fig. 2)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 5 August 2022

References

de Paor, L. and Ó h-Eochaidhe, M. 1956 Unusual Group of Earthworks at Slieve Breagh, Co. Meath. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 86, 97-101

SMR file - Sites and monuments record files in the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.