Hilltop enclosure in Garristown

Hilltop enclosure

What is recorded here

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The site encloses a hilltop (556ft. OD)south-west of Garristown village. There are extensive views westwards to Tara and east to the coast. Reputedly the site of Rath Esa which is mentioned in the Metrical Dindsenchus (Morris 1939, 179-89). The enclosure is oval in plan (int. dims 90m N-S; 82m E-W) and is defined by a counterscarp bank (Wth 2.5-3m; internal H 0.7m; external H 1.8m). There is an entrance in the S (Wth 2.5m). Ground drops steeply to east and north beyond the enclosure, more gently to south and west. Remains of a windmill (DU003-004002-), built in 1736 by Marie and Edward Walsh of Borranstown, cap the summit. It has been suggested that this enclosure is possibly contemporaneous with the windmill and was constructed to keep cattle away from the sails of the windmill as is the case at Skerries windmill (DU005-028----) (SMR File 05/10/1995).

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record DU003-004001

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Photo credits

Kieran Campbell, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Dvcireland, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kmcnamee, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
SeoR, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
C O'Flanagan, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
C O'Flanagan, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Malene Thyssen, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

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