County: Galway Site name: RATHNAPOURA, Rinville West
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 94:60 Licence number: —
Author: Donncha Ó Faoláin
Site type: Ringfort - rath
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 534964m, N 722729m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.250942, -8.974537
This limited excavation was conducted over a 3-week period in May 1992. The investigation was undertaken as part of a general programme of landscaping and conservation agreed with the developers of the Galway Bay Golf and Country Club. It was planned to present the ringfort as a feature of the course and the work was funded by the golf club.
The ringfort, some 30m in diameter, is fairly well preserved and is situated on a low ridge with the external fosse and outer counter-scarp bank visible in the western sector. Excavation was confined to the line of the inner face of the main enclosing earthen-stone bank and the entrance area. The investigations revealed the remains of a stone revetment or facing along the inner perimeter of this bank. This was composed of dry-walling interspersed with erect slabs some of which stood to a height of almost 1 m. The original entrance was uncovered in the southern sector some 3.5m in width and it too had a fine stone revetment. In the north-eastern sector of the site the enclosure had been defaced and interfered with and here only a few of the facing stones remained to indicate the line of the bank.
Within the centre of the fort a number of small low mounds were stripped of their sod covering and shown to be dumps of stoney material resulting from field clearance. The work of reseeding the interior of the fort to provide a level sod was also monitored.
No artefacts were discovered in the course of the investigation and the only finds recorded were a number of small caches of shells along the line of the stone revetment. These consisted mainly of oysters, periwinkles and limpets.
Fothrai Maola, Bearna, Co. Galway
