Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle S-facing slope. Circular grass-covered area (diam. 40.3m N-S; 37.6m E-W) defined by an overgrown earthen bank (at E: Wth 2.5m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.8m; at N: Wth 5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.9m) NE-SSE and SW-NNE which is reduced to a scarp (H 0.9m) SSE-SW and is missing (L 17m) NNE-ENE. There is an outer fosse (Wth of base 1.8m at N to 4.4m at W; D 0.3-0.4m) WSW-NE, but there is no visible entrance.
A buffer zone (Wth 20m) was established around the monument in 2009 during the archaeological testing for the N5 Ballaghadereen bypass and for any subsequent construction (O'Neill 2009, 16). An area outside the buffer-zone was excavated (Kyle and Delaney 2011a; Kyle 2011d) when evidence of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity was recorded (RO008-065----) as well as elements of a field system (RO008-023001-) associated with the rath and an enclosure (RO008-023002-).
Further excavation in 2012 by S. Delaney under the same license (10E0301) identified a narrow ditch outside the visible fosse of the rath and curving in line with the perimeter in the S sector. It produced material that provided a C14 date of AD 666-773 (Delaney et al. 2016, 86). Three sections of ditch to the NE were also curved with the perimeter, but there were original gaps between the sections. See this web-page accessed on 4 December, 2014: http://www.excavations.ie/report/2012/Roscommon/0023394/

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 2 December, 2014

References

Kyle, J. and Delaney, S. 2011a N5 Ballaghaderreen bypass. Toobraockan 1, miscellaneous; Toobrackan 2, fulacht fia. Final report. Irish Archaeological Consultancy. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Licence no. 10E0301.

Kyle, J. and Delaney, S. 2011d N5 Ballaghaderreen bypass. Teevnacreeva 1, Iron Age pits. Final report. Irish Archaeological Consultancy. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Licence no. 10E0306.

O'Neill, N. 2009 N5 Ballaghadereen bypass road scheme, Co. Roscommon. Report on archaeological test trenching of areas A-F. Headland Archaeology. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Delaney, S., J. Kyle and D. Bayley 2016 Working the margin. The archaeology of the N5 Ballaghaderreen Bypass road project. Journal of the County Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society, vol. 13, 81-7.