Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Rathkenny

Located on a shelf at the bottom of the S-facing slope of Simpson’s Mountain, and overlooking Black Lough c. 150m to the SE. It was described in 1968 (SMR file) as a raised and circular grass-covered area (diam. 45m NW-SE) define by an earthen bank (at SE: Wth c. 8m; int. H c. 1m; ext. H 2.3m) best preserved ESE-S but largely by an external scarp (at NW: Wth 8m; H 1.7m). There is no evidence of a fosse and the most likely original entrance is a gap (Wth of base 0.7m) at S but there are also modern farm entrances at NW and NE. There is a sunken area (dims 15.8m E-W; 5.9 N-S) inside the perimeter at NW with the grass-covered remains of a wall footing. Another sunken area (dims 10.5m N-S; 6.5m E-W) inside the bank at SW might also be a building, but both probably post-date the abandonment of the rath. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 10 July 2007 Amended; 3 August 2022