Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a natural hillock, in relatively low lying, rough pasture with extensive views in all directions, except where limited to NE by a distant ridge. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a circular-shaped area (diam. 33m) defined by a bank with external fosse, encircled on the exterior by a line of trees. Irishtown River lies c. 140m to NE. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a sub-oval shaped area defined by a scarp and having a field boundary which lies c. 15m to E. Surrounding field has been drained and planted with forestry in recent years (Digital Globe; Bing; Google Earth 24/03/2017).
Monument described in 1975 as a roughly oval-shaped enclosure defined by the remains of a bank which is reduced to a steep scarp and having the slight remains of an external fosse. The bank is occupied by thorn bushes and briars. An outer earthen bank is evident in places which may form part of a field boundary. There is no obvious entrance. The interior rises appreciably from the perimeter towards the centre and is disturbed by digging of relatively modern date. A second report from 1980 described the monument as a roughly circular-shaped area (38.5m NNE-SSW; 38m WNW-ESE) defined by a bank, intervening fosse and an outer bank, which has been much defaced during land reclamation works. The poorly preserved inner bank only survives from NNE-E and from S-W and has the remains of internal and external stone facing from NNE-E. The intervening fosse survives from SSE-E and has been partially defaced by the recent land works, having some boulders dumped within at W. There are no enclosing elements from E-SSE. There is no obvious entrance. The interior rises unevenly towards the centre, having been extensively disturbed, whereby there is a large depression off-centre to S & SE with other smaller depressions across most of the N, E & S quadrants. Some stones are visible on the surface in the S & E sectors, yet no structures are discernible.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 30 November 2018