Rath in Ballytrent

Located at the E edge of a gently rolling landscape with the ground sloping down to clay cliffs (H c. 10m) overlooking the sea shore c. 300m to the SE. The monument is described as a rath with two banks attributed to the Danes by Sutton writing c. 1680 (Hore 1862 3, 63; 1921, 56). It is described in italic lettering on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map as Mulgrave Rath Observatory. According to John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 this name was applied to the monument by the proprietor after Lord Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1835-9). The proprietor had also installed an observatory in it and built the wall around it (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 275). The monument is a slightly domed circular area (int. diam. 62m) defined by an earthen bank (at S: Wth 9m; int. and ext. H 3m) separated by berm (at S: Wth 6.5-8.5m) from an outer bank (at S: Wth 11-15.5m; int. H 4-4.5m; ext. H 5.5m). The centre is cultivated as an ornamental garden with tunnels through the banks and a masonry wall (H 1.5-2.5m) is retaining the outside of the outer bank (max. ext. diam. c. 120m). The banks are supporting mature deciduous trees. No original entrances or excavated fosses are visible. There was reputed to be an underground cave or Man-made underground passage at its centre that was discovered in 1908 (SMR file). The exact classification of this enclosure is difficult to determine. Dalton (1921, 31-3) considered it a possible sub-Roman/Celtic cult-centre. Its large scale, and the scale and regularity of its banks suggests that it might have fulfilled a ceremonial rather than a domestic or defensive role. The larger outer bank adds to this interpretation, but there is a complete lack of other recognisable burial or ceremonial monuments in the vicinity.