Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

Marked as a rectangular bivallate enclosure (ext. dims. c. 50m E-W; c. 45m N-S) on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch mpa, it is located towards the bottom of a gentle E-facing slope with the headwaters of a small N-S stream c. 170m to the E. This is a circular grass-covered area (diam. 27m N-S; c. 27m E-W) defined by an earthen bank (at N: Wth 3.5m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 1.4m) SW-NE and a scarp H 0.5-0.9m) elsewhere with an external flat bottomed but dry fosse (Wth of top 4-8m; Wth of base 2m at S to 4m at N; ext. D 0.9m at E to 1.8m at N) and an outer overgrown bank (Wth 2-4m; ext. H 1-2m), that has an outer drain NW-SE. The interior has been quarried with the old spoil mound obscuring the inner bank and fosse at W. An entrance (Wth 3.3m) through the outer bank at W is probably modern and uses the spoil as a causeway. It is listed as a moated site (Barry 1977. 218, WX 38), but is probably a rath.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 19 February, 2013

References

Barry, T.B. 1977 Medieval moated sites of south-eastern Ireland. British Archaeological Reports, British Series 35. Oxford.