Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the crest of the N-facing slope of a drumlin. 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 circular grass and scrub-covered area (diam. 34.5m E-W; 31m N-S) defined by an overgrown earthen bank separated by a fosse from an outer, flat-topped earthen bank (at N: Wth of top 7.5m) that has traces of small earthen banks (H 0.4m) on its inner and outer edges SSW-W-NNE but these morph into a single large bank elsewhere. There is also an external fosse that is surrounded by a field bank. The entrance through the inner (Wth of base 2.9m) and outer (Wth of base 3.2m) banks and a causeway (Wth of top 3.8m; H 0.6m) are at ENE, the lowest point of the interior. A sunken area (L 8.8m; Wth 4.1m; max. D at NW 0.8m), which may be a collapsed souterrain although no stone is evident, extends from just W of the centre to the inner bank at WNW.

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).