What is recorded here

Longstone Rath is a 63-metre circular enclosure on a narrow pasture ridge at Furness House, County Kildare, where a fine standing stone and burial cist still mark its centre. Its thick earthen bank, opposing entrance gaps and outer ditch suggest a place set apart for ceremony, memory or decision rather than ordinary farm life. The nearby burial cairn and the stone at the heart of the circle imply that people may have gathered there to honor the dead, witness oaths or orient themselves among ancestors.

At the N end of a narrow, moderately steep-sided, N-S pasture ridge on the landscaped grounds of Furness House. A small burial cairn (KD019-23----) lies c. 65m to the SE. A large circular area (diam. 63m) is defined by an inner earthen bank (Wth 6-8m; av. H 2m) with almost opposing entrance gaps at ENE and W, and by an outer fosse. Slight traces of a second, outer bank were noted in 1972 (SMR file). The interior rises gently towards the centre where there is a very fine standing stone (KD019-022002-), beside which and a cist (KD019-022003-) was discovered. Visible on a 2006 aerial photograph (SMR file) with the enclosing bank partially denuded of sod cover, apparently by livestock. The monument is the subject of a Preservation Order (No.95). The occurrence of standing stones associated with enclosures is known elsewhere in County Kildare, including Punchestown (KD024-0099001- and KD024-0099002-) and Mullaghmast (KD036-010---- and KD036-017----). (Herity 2002, 23 (66); De Burg 1896, 315, 317, 324; Mayo, Earl of, 1899-1902, 57, 59; Synnott 1899-1902, 454, 466-8; Macalister/Praeger/Armstrong 1912-14, 288-295; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 384; Waddell 1970, 119; Weir 1980, 167) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 95/1940).

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