Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, straddling the base of a N-facing slope overlooking an expanse of damp pasture to N. A roughly circular level area (33.5m NW-SE; 31m NE-SW) enclosed by an earthen bank with an external fosse and the remnant of an outer bank. The rath is crossed N of centre by a WNW-ESE road, flanked by field boundaries. To S of the road the interior is defined SE-WNW by a substantial earthen bank (Wth 5m; int. H 1m; ext. H 1.4m) with an external fosse (Wth c. 5m, base 2.3m; D 0.9m). The bank is somewhat degraded and flattened on top, broadly slumped internally and obscured in parts by gorse and hawthorn bushes. The fosse is cut into rising ground and marked by a growth of rushes and partially infilled with field clearance debris at SE and SW. A break (Wth 3.2m) in the bank at SSW with a causeway across the fosse appears to be a recent feature. Breaks (Wth 2-3m) in the bank were also noted at SE and WNW at the intersection with the field boundary, bordering the road. To N of the road the interior is enclosed by a degraded earthen bank with a low internal rim (Wth 3m; int. H 0.1m; ext. H 1.5m), a shallow fosse (Wth 3m), marked by rushes, and a gapped, degraded outer bank (Wth 2.5-3m; int. H 0.65m; ext. H 0.45m).

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