Barrow — ring-barrow in Rathnew

This possible burial monument is located on the gentle south-facing slope of Uisneach, overlooking a small lake that formed in recent decades in an area that may also have been prone to water-logging in the past (Schot 2005; 2011). Identified during field survey, it survives as a slightly raised, circular area, c.0.15m in height and 3m in diameter, surrounded by a shallow ditch and very low, external bank measuring c.7m in overall diameter. The site provides good views to the E and SW but is overlooked by higher ground on all other sides. A well-defined ring-ditch (WM024-201----) and a second, possible ring-ditch, were recorded by geophysical survey c.65m to the northwest, and an ancient roadway (WM024-067----) runs in a north/south direction to the west. Macalister and Praeger also identified in this general area an ‘earthwork’ (WM024-175----) which they described as being ‘identical in character’ to a ring-barrow (WM024-058----) located near the western summit of Uisneach. They ‘trenched through’ the earthwork, but found ‘it did not contain so much as a construction of stones’ (Macalister and Praeger 1928, 83). However, the dimensions recorded by Macalister and Praeger for this putative barrow (diameter of central mound, 6.4m; width of ditch, 2.75m; depth of ditch 0.38m; width of outer bank, 2.75m) suggest that it was more than twice the size of the present ring-barrow, and is therefore likely to represent a separate monument, no obvious trace of which survives today. See attached photo provided by Dr. Roseanne Schot Compiled by: Dr. Roseanne Schot Date of upload: 08 May 2019