What is recorded here

Barrow is a ring-barrow on the summit ridge of Slieve Breagh in County Meath, where a slight fosse separates a circular area from an outer bank about twenty-five metres across. It sits at the centre of a crowded complex of earthworks, just southwest of a rath that seems to have cut into it, while furze now hides the sequence of their making. The preserved landmark still marks the heights of Brega, inviting wonder about the hands that shaped that ridge long before pasture reclaimed much of the summit.

Slieve Breagh is an ENE-WSW ridge (L of summit c. 500m) that is part of an NE-SW line of hills which extends from Rathkenny, Co. Meath almost to Dunleer, Co. Louth (L c. 15km). There are a number of summit ridges with high cols between them. Breagh is derived from Brega (the heights) which is also the name of the Meath territory. The E end of this summit and much of its S face in Creewood townland is now reclaimed pasture but the remainder in Rathbranchurch is unchanged from the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and preserves a collection of earthwork monuments consisting mostly of barrows and a few raths as well as some hut-sites that were recorded in the 1950s (de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe 1956). The earthworks sometimes impinge on each other, but as the area is now largely overgrown with furze it is not possible to examine them closely to tease out any sequence of monument construction. This feature (No. 14) is located in uncultivated land on the summit ridge at the centre of the complex, just SW of a rath (No. 16) which seems to have cut it at NE. It is described as a circular area separated by a slight fosse from an outer bank (max. ext. diam. c. 25m) (ibid. 100, No. 14). This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 11/1956). See the attached plan of the monuments from de Paor and Ó h-Eochaidhe (1956, fig. 2) 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: 5 August 2022

A ring-barrow, likely dating to the Early Bronze Age, associated with a broader landscape of prehistoric hills and ridges; its significance lies in its potential to contribute to understanding regional burial practices and settlement patterns in the Brú na Bóinne area.

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