Ecclesiastical enclosure in Outrath — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Outrath means the upper fort, and the church stood inside it. Grave digging cut through the foundation until no line remained, but medieval pottery and animal bones still lie beneath the soil where a reservoir was dug. The triangular graveyard may be only a wedge of a much larger circle, its edge forgotten under the road and grass.

According to the OS Letters (1839) the parish church of Outrath (KK023-014001-) was called, 'Teampall Ratha Uachtair, the Church of Ratha Uachtair', where there are, 'small portions of the walls of a Church to be seen here, which they say stood formerly within a Rath. The ground has been so much disturbed by grave digging, that the foundation cannot now be traced' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 264-5 (89)). Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 228) also mentions that the church stood, ‘according to tradition, within the Rath from which the parish has its name’. The church is within a triangular graveyard (KK023-014002-) with a curve in the public road along the NW side of the graveyard. It is possible that this is the NW wedge of a much larger, roughly circular, ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 120m). Archaeological excavations (excavation licence no. 96E0387) in advance of the construction of a small reservoir, c. 10m S of the W end of the S boundary of the graveyard, revealed a spread of settlement debris (dims. 2m x 2.5m; D 0.04-0.1m), including charcoal, animal bones and several fragments of medieval pottery (Reid 1996; Reid 1997, 60-61). These provide further evidence of a medieval enclosure which extending beyond the current limits of the graveyard. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 1 June 2021

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.