What is recorded here

Slieve Breagh rises above County Meath as a long ridge of ancient heights, its name preserved from Brega and its summit still marked by barrows and raths. The western edge remains unchanged since the 1836 survey, keeping a cluster of earthworks that resisted the plough and memory alike. The eastern edge has surrendered to pasture, yet the hidden shape of the ridge endures beneath grass and rain.

Slieve Breagh is an ENE-WSW ridge (L of summit c. 500m) that is part of an NE-SW line of hills which extends from Rathkenny, Co. Meath almost to Dunleer, Co. Louth (L c. 15km). There are a number of summit ridges with high cols between them. Breagh is derived from Brega (the heights) which is also the name of the Meath territory. The E end of this summit and much of its S face in Creewood townland is now reclaimed pasture but the remainder in Rathbranchurch is unchanged from the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and preserves a collection of earthwork monuments consisting mostly of barrows and a few raths as well as some hut-sites that were recorded in the 1950s (de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe 1956). There was some excavation (E000038) in the Creewood part of the complex in 1959-1961, but little is known about the results (Herity and Eogan 1977, 49). This feature (No. 36) was in the uncultivated land on the summit ridge (SMR file) but is not included in the original survey (de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe 1956) and may have been discovered in excavation. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 5 August 2022

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