What is recorded here

Half-hidden under brambles and hazel on a low rise in County Mayo, Raheen keeps its circular stone bank intact beside a drinking stream. Local memory claims the interior served as a children's burial ground, giving the quiet fort a tender, solemn purpose. It still stands near another rath, waiting for someone to walk its broken edge and imagine the lives that trusted this place with their smallest dead.

In pasture, occupying a low rise in gently undulating terrain. Immediately to SW ground falls into a natural depression which is fed by a stream. It is located in the NE of the townland, within c. 120m of the townland boundary. This rath is named ‘Ratheen’ on the 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch maps. It consists of a raised circular area (23.8m N–S; 24m E–W) defined by a substantial bank of earth and stones. The bank (W 3-3.5m; int. H 0.6-0.7m; ext. H 1.25m at E, 1.5m at W) is faced with large stones in parts, and is topped with smaller stones. At SSE a C-shaped area (6m N–S; 8m E–W) has been quarried through the bank and into the interior. There is a break (Wth 2.6m) in the bank at NE, with a shallow depression on its inner edge in the interior. There is another break/low area (Wth 2m) at N. The interior is said to have been used as a children’s burial ground (MA038-107002). The rath is densely engulfed in hazel and brambles. There is another rath (MA038-106----) c. 40m to NE. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 9 August 2019

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