Rathfran Ringfort

In the NW corner of a modern rectangular field of rough pasture, located on a natural terrace, at the top of SE-facing slope, overlooking the estuary of the Palmerstown River, and overlooked at NW by steeply rising ground. A road, on an E-W axis, lies a few meters to N bordering the N side of the field.

This rath (National Monument no. 389) is not indicated on 1838 and 1922 OS 6-inch maps. It appears as a subcircular platform (20.6m NE-SW; c. 20m NW-SE) rising c. 1m above the surrounding field, defined by an irregular, broadly sloping scarp. The N half of the interior is level, but a rough scarp on an E-W axis marks a drop in ground level in the S third. There is a souterrain (MA015-026002-), evident as a subrectangular depression, in the NE quadrant. The scarp on the NE−SE arc of the rath is overlain by remnants of a later earth and stone field boundary, which continues beyond the rath to the NW (intersecting with the NW corner of the modern field), and for a few meters to SE where it joins low remnants of another field boundary/scarp (MA015-026004-) on a roughly NE−SW axis. There is a possible house (MA015-026003-) on a low terrace immediately to S of the rath, and a second possible house (MA015-090----) 25m to NW. There is a rath (MA015-072----) c. 100m to N and another (MA015-073----) is c. 150m to NE.