What is recorded here

Bonnetsrath is a lost enclosure in County Kilkenny because the rath was levelled centuries ago. Residents still point to a bush at the top of Bonnettstown lane as its marker, while a water deviner once claimed that a tunnel lay hidden beneath the site. Nobody tested that claim, leaving the earth above the bush holding an unproven promise of darkness below.

According to O'Kelly (1969, 97) in Bonnetsrath, the ‘rath was levelled years ago’. Doyle (1981) states that while levelled ‘centuries ago’, the local residents will show you a bush at the top of Bonnettstown lane which marks the site of the rath. A water deviner who was devining for water where the rath was, claimed that there was a tunnel underground. No one ever investigated this but it could be a cavity in the rock’ (NMI files). The ‘rath’ is unlocated within the townland. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 16 June 2020

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.