Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on a gentle SE-facing slope. A slightly raised circular area (diam. c. 20m) enclosed by an earth and stone bank with an external fosse. The bank (Wth 4.2m; int. H 0.8m; ext. H 1.2m), best evident W-ESE, is possibly incorporated into a field fence at SE and difficult to trace due to disturbance and overgrowth elsewhere. A field boundary respects the line of the bank NW-NE and probably marks the outer edge of a silted-up fosse at this point. The fosse is evident as a shallow depression (Wth 3m) WSW-WNW. The interior is densely overgrown with trees and bushes and has been extensively disturbed by quarrying. Apart from a narrow band inside the bank W-E, the surface of the interior has been quarried away to a depth of 1.3m. Beneath the overgrowth, large boulders and heaps of stones were noted. There is a field boundary immediately E of the rath.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008