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).
There was some excavation (E000038) in the Creewood part of the complex in 1959-1961, but little is known about the results (Herity and Eogan 1977, 49). This feature (No. 30) was isolated in the uncultivated land on the summit ridge c. 15m S of the rath (No. 31). It is described (de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe 1956 100, No. 30) as one of a group of small circular features defined by shallow ditches and low external banks (average diam. c. 6m), but this one may have been excavated as there was no visible evidence of it 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).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 10 July 2007
Amended: 5 August 2022

References

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

Herity, M. and Eogan, G. 1977 Ireland in Prehistory. London. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

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