Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In modern housing estate, on an elevated area near top of a N-facing slope. Views of Rock of Cashel to N obscured by housing. No visible surface trace. Identified as an oval cropmark on an aerial photograph (GSI 628/7, 16/04/1974). Occupied by houses at terminus of cul-de-sac. Steep drop to 'Old Road' c. 30m to E. Archaeological excavation in 1997 and 1998 revealed a shallow external fosse (Wth 2m; D 0.4m) (0.4m deep), however, no datable finds were recovered (Moran 1998, 160). Limit archaeological excavation was carried out on the bank in 1998 (Moran 2000, 194) in which 'three generations of bank and ditch were identified. The earliest bank and ditch are likely to have formed part of a ringfort. Bone and charcoal in the primary fill of the ditch suggest occupation close by. Post-holes identified on top of the bank suggest a palisade or fence. No datable finds were recovered from the earliest two banks and ditches. The latest, stone-revetted bank and ditch were associated with post-medieval finds'. The S enclosing element of the ringfort survives as a curving kink in the townland boundary, the arc of which suggests a possible diameter of c. 56m for the ringfort. There is also a curving arc in the field boundary to the W, indicated on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map and on the 1952/54 revision, which possibly incorporated or respected the W edge of the monument.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 23 November 2015

References

Moran, J. 1998 Old Road, Cashel: vicinity of enclosure. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1997: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 160. Bray. Wordwell.

Moran, J. 2000 Old Road, Cashel: enclosure. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1998: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 194. Bray. Wordwell.