Home

Who
What
Where
When
Why
Cruachain - Rathbeg Barrow
 

County

Roscommon

Coordinates

N 53° 48' 24.0"   W 008° 18' 29.04"

Nearest town

Tulsk

Grid Ref.

M 79709 84169

Map No.

33

Elevation a.s.l. (m)

154

Date of visit

Friday 26 June 2015

GPS Accuracy (m)

3
Show Google Map              Show Monuments in the area

    
    
  
PREVIOUS      NEXT
Rathbeg seen from the northwest.


Cruachain, or Cruachan, is one of the most important ancient sites cited in Irish literature and history. It was a place of assembly and the burial ground for many Irish kings. It was also used as a site for ritual gatherings and ceremonies and probably it was also the residence for some of the kings. Cruachain is a large area of about 10 square kilometres and includes 19 enclosures, 27 burial mounds, pillar stones and standing stones and some other earthworks. Some of them are still clearly visible in the landscape, others have been flattened or erased by the human activities over the centuries and can be detected only by an aerial inspection.
Cruachain appears in the Irish mythology as the seat of Ailill and Medb, respectively king and queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle. The site is the setting for the opening of the famous legendary tale of the Táin Bó Cúailnge.

This mound is classified as a barrow and dates to the Iron Age. Its name, Rath Beg, means "small fort". It has a central cairn surrounded by two concentric banks, with an internal ditch each. The outer diameter of this mound is about 35 metres. From the top of this mound it is possible to see Rath Cruachan Mound/A> to the southeast (155°) and Rathnadarve to the southwest (210°).


Browse by Monument Type
Browse by County
Browse by Date of Visit
Browse by Map Number

A-Z List

Clickable Counties
Clickable OS Maps Grid

Find a Map

Multimap

The days before GPS

The Stones in the Movies

Glossary
Links
Guestbook
FAQ

What's NEW?


Search


Site view counter: 21808751

Copyright © 1994-2024 Antonio D'Imperio
All the photos, the graphics and the texts on this website are automatically copyrighted to me under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1886. Any violation of the copyright will be pursued according to the applicable laws.

info@irishstones.org

Powered by AxeCMS/CustomEngine(V0.25.00 build 999) by Sergio "Axeman" Lorenzetti. (C) 2009-2015

counter