Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, straddling a rise in undulating terrain. Knocknarae Mountain looms to NW, and Benbulbin and the Dartry Mountains dominate the horizon at N−NE. There is a passage tomb (SL014-115----) 100m to N and another (SL014-209007-) 200 m to SW.
This rath is a National Monument (No. 153) in state ownership. It consists of a raised circular platform (diam. 29.6m N−S; 31m E−W) defined by an earth and stone bank. The bank (Wth 3m at S, 4m at N; int. H 0.9m at S, o.3m at N; ext. H 1.2m at S, 1.75m at N) is intact at S−NE, with a relatively low but compact internal slope and a broad external slump. Stones protrude randomly along the top and external slope, suggesting that it may have been topped or faced with stone walling in the past. This is most evident on the W arc, where low, moss-covered stones on the top of the bank resemble rough wall footings (Wth 0.8m). At NE−SE the raised internal lip of the bank does not survive, and here the rath platform is defined only by a steep external scarp (H c. 2m at E), which is enhanced by the natural fall of ground.
There is a poorly defined gap (Wth c. 2m) in the bank at NE; this may be the location of an original entrance. At ESE there is a broad, slightly sunken break (Wth 5.5m) at the top edge of the platform, which extends down the slope, narrowing toward the base of the slope; it is possible that this represents a steep, entrance ramp, but it seems more likely to be the result of disturbance in the modern era.
The W two third of the interior are level; the E third slopes down gently toward the perimeter. Two shallow circular hollows (diam. 1.8-2m) in the N half of the interior may be the remains of hut sites (SL014-0116002-; SL014-0116003-).
The interior of the rath is grassy. A number of hawthorn bushes and clumps of brambles grow on the perimeter at W; on the E arc the external slope of the rath platform is obscured by a dense thicket of brambles and hawthorn bushes. On the S arc, the bank has been adapted to serve as a field boundary and is topped by a post and wire fence, and a hawthorn hedgerow; here the external face of the bank drops to a grassed-over farm track which skirts the rath.

Attached images:
SL014-116001-_01.JPG viewed from NW

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 1 October 2020