Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a rise in a low-lying landscape. This enclosure could be the one depicted at Mageness on McCrea’s map of Co. Monaghan (1793). It is depicted faintly as a D-shaped area defined by what might be an uncertain bank NNW-E-SE on the 1834 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described in gothic lettering as a ‘fort’, and as an arc of hachures NNW-ENE on the 1907 edition. It was described in 1967 as a curved bank (at NNW: Wth 3.4m; int. H 0.2m; ext. H 2m) NNW-NE around a raised area with rock outcrop, but a bank emerged (at E: Wth c. 3-5m; ext. H c. 0.5m; int. H c. 0.5m) NE-E. There was no visible fosse and the remainder of the perimeter could not be identified. A house was built just to the W c. 1970.

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.

Date of revision: 28 August 2017

References

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