Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Located just off the crest of a short N-S drumlin ridge at S. This rath is represented on McCrea’s Map of County Monaghan (1793) and on the 1834 and 1907 editions of the OS 6-inch map. It is a subcircular grass and scrub-covered area (dims 46m E-W; 40m N-S) defined by an overgrown earthen bank separated by a wide and deep fosse and a berm from an overgrown outer bank and an external fosse. There is a small bank outside the inner fosse N-ENE, probably resulting from a re-cut of the fosse. W of the centre, a broad depression extending W to a gap in the inner bank may mark the site of a collapsed souterrain (MO023-016002-). A field bank skirts the outer fosse SW-N with a farm lane outside it W-N. There is an entrance through the inner (Wth of base 3.2m) and outer (Wth of base 3.6m) banks and causeways over the inner (Wth of top 4.1m; H 1.8m) and outer (Wth of top 4m; H 0.5m) fosses at SSE.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 19 June 2018

References

McCrea, W. 1793 A map of the county of Monaghan. National Library of Ireland, Manuscripts 16.1.10 (1-4).