Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a natural rise of ground on the landscaped demesne lands of Clonyn House located 750m to the NNW. This earthwork known locally as a 'fort' is depicted as a grove of trees standing 70m E of the main avenue leading up to Clonyn House on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map. An enclosure (WM013-032----) lies 45m to the NE and a third enclosure (WM013-114----) is 60m to the NW. Possible ringfort that was re-used as a tree-ring as part of the landscaping of Clonyn House demesne.
Remains consist of an almost D-shaped area (dims. 35m NE-SW x 33.5m NW-SE) with straight side at W enclosed by the poorly preserved remains of an earthen bank (int. H 0.15m; ext. H 0.35m) mainly reduced to a scarp and shallow external fosse (Wth 1.9m; ext. D 025m). No entrance feature visible. The interior slopes from NNW-SSE. The stumps of trees are still visible on the site indicating that the ringfort was adapted as a tree-ring in the post 1700 period. These tree stumps are no longer visible on the Digital Globe aerial photographs taken November 2011. It is not clear if all three earthworks (WM013-033-/114----) are the remains of ringforts that were converted into tree-rings as part of the landscaping of Clonyn House demesne or whether they were built as tree-rings in the post-1700 period.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 2 August 2017