Castle - ringwork

The National Monuments Service's description

On a SE-facing slope in undulating terrain. Vegetable garden in small field directly S of monument, otherwise surrounded by pasture. Possible location of pre-18th-century church (TS077-060----) on top of hill c. 150m immediately N of monument. Irregular-shaped enclosure (diam. 26.5m N-S; 26m E-W) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 2.5m crest, 8.7m base; int. H 2.08m; ext. H 1.68m) with a steep drop to the exterior. Bank in the S quadrant is largely reduced to scarp (Wth 3.2m crest, 5.9m base; int. H 0.37m; ext. H 1.95m). There is no clearly defined entrance, however the banks are quite overgrown. Bank at E end of N side is quite eroded, possibly a result of disturbance. The interior is planted with young ash and fir trees and is very overgrown with nettles. The E side of the monument is curving the other N, S and W sides are straight. Field boundaries W of ringwork were levelled some years ago and most of the material was dumped onto the W bank of the monument, the N bank was also disturbed by clearance activity. There is no visible fosse. Rathronan is associated with a Templar manor (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 330). The OS Letters describe this as a square fort 'raised about nine feet [2.7m] above the level of the field; it has at present no external rampart and the land is tilled to its very base. It is now in an orchard and seven apple trees grown on top of it' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 51).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.