Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on a low flat-topped ridge with broadly sloping sides, steepest on the W side, and bordered W-E by low-lying wet ground and SE-S by a gently rising ridge of higher ground. An arc of scarp (L 70m; Wth slope 1.7m; H 0.5m) S-NNW coincides with the natural break of slope at the top of the ridge. At the base of the scarp there is a terrace (Wth 4.5m) from which the ground falls in a broad slope (Wth slope 5m; H 0.95m) to the base of the ridge. This is probably the remains of a large oval rath, though no evidence of an enclosing element survives N-SE. A NE-SW field boundary crosses the probable S limits of the rath. There is a souterrain (SL026-026002-) in the S half of the interior. This rath is probably that described by O'Rorke (1878, 241) as 'a large rath or fort…oblong being 96 yards [87.78m] in length and 72 [65.84m] in breadth'. There is a possible fulacht fia (SL026-026005-) immediately to W.

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