Enclosure in Duninga

On the county boundary between Kilkenny and Carlow and located at the E end of a linear earthwork (KK016-006----; KK016-006001-; KK016-006002-; KK021-006----) known as, ‘Rathduff Trench’ which roughly E-W runs immediately outside the N quadrant. On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map only the N portion of the monument (dims. c. 80m NW-SE; c. 35m NE-SW) is indicated as a curving bank in woodland, with the public road to the E, which runs N-S, curving out to respect the monument, though possibly also truncating it slightly. The 1900 revision of the OS map indicates an almost complete enclosure (diam. c. 90m) defined from W-N-S by a bank or scarp, with a gap in the SW sector. It also indicates a large roughly circular (diam. c. 50m) hollow area in the interior. According to the OS Letters (1839), ‘The Revd. W.K. Boroughs states that two small graves [see cists KK021-008001- and KK021-008002-] were some years ago discovered at this rath about two feet [0.61m] under the surface, beside each other, the one that of a child, the other that of a full grown man. These graves were neatly flagged at the bottom and sides; one was eighteen inches [0.47m] long and fourteen [0.36m] high, the other three feet [0.91m] by eighteen inches [0.47m]. In each was found an earthen vessel of baked clay which was broken by the carelessness of the diggers. The bones were not charred by fire. This is a fine fort and formed one of a chain which seems to have separated two important ancient territories’ (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 23-4 (9)). According to Feeley (2008, 46) the monument had been quarried into for gravel. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 19 April 2021