Barrow - ring-barrow

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 (No. 21) is isolated in the uncultivated land on the S-facing slope and is E of the cluster of monuments around the rath (No. 16). It is described (ibid. 100, No. 21) as one of a group of small circular features defined by shallow ditches and low external banks (average diam. c. 6m). These small ring-barrows frequently have a break at one point in the bank, 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