What is recorded here

Rathtooreen is a gravelly ringfort on a Mayo knoll, its eastern entrance still opening toward the falling land. Cattle grazed the flattened bank for centuries, turning an ancient boundary into a living field edge. The western ditch and northern slope preserve the shape of hands that built before memory failed.

In wet to average pasture, located on a small knoll, which provides excellent views of the surrounding undulating landscape This rath is named ‘Rathtooreen’ on the 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch map. It consists of a circular area (diam. 23.5m) defined by remnants of a gravelly earthen bank. On the W half the bank survives as a low, sod-covered rise (Wth 4.5m; int. H 0.4m; ext. H 1.4m), which appears to have served as a field boundary in the past, and is bordered on its outer edge at SW-NW by a narrow, shallow ditch (Wth 1.2m; ext. D 0.15m); the ditch appears to be a field ditch rather than an original fosse. At the N the external slope of the bank (ext. H 2.5m) is steeper than elsewhere, enhanced by the knoll slope. On the E half the bank has been levelled a low scarp with a slight internal rim. In the interior there is a slight slope down to E, where there is an entrance gap (Wth c. 2m), opening onto the more gradually sloping side of the knoll. Remnants of a field bank, visible as a low rise, traverse the interior on a NNW–SSW axis, in line with extant field boundaries that intersect with the rath at NNW and S. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 24 July 2019

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