The site is breathtaking in person, standing at a height of 5.4-7.2m, it is an imposing spectre on the Tipperary landscape. The matter of the mound’s nature is up for debate; weather it is neolithic in origin, as claimed on the information board found at the site, or a later round-barrow from the bronze age (the camp I happen to find myself in), as according to the national monuments service, it will always stand out as one of the most impressive antiquities of rural Tipperary.
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February 9, 2026
A nice view of the mound/barrow quite impressive in person
Image credit: myself
February 8, 2026
Put this visit off for too long because of the masts... worth the wait, to be fair.
Zooming in from Fan Dringarth. The main cairn can be seen, approx centre, upon the near bank...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Corn Du and Pen-y-Fan tower beyond the deep defile riven by the Nant Mawr. Seen from Fan Dringarth...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Glorious light, in stark contrast to the hill fog the enveloped me upon the ascent earlier in the day. Boxing Day 2025.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Towards Fan Nedd while hanging out at the cairn...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Boxing Day 2025: temperature inversion having peeled away, another aerial view of the great stone – centre, far right – in its glorious environment, as seen from Fan Llia. Fan Nedd rears up, above left, its northern cairn prominent. Y Mynydd Du crowns the horizon, beyond...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
February 7, 2026
This is a link to Thomas Bateman and Stephen Glover’s “Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire” (1848) in which the discovery of the shale beads and many other things is described. The excavation was apparently very “efficient” and done in a day... things were a bit different in those days.
Cwm Bach Iron Age 'Cliff Fort', near Wick, Vale of Glamorgan
With nothing better to do... a return to this wondrous site proved ‘invigorating’, to say the least.
February 3, 2026
A 6th Century burial ground and two Iron Age roundhouses have been discovered during a Scottish Water sewer upgrade project in the Highlands.
Jet necklaces excavated from the barrow, currently on display in Weston Park Museum, Sheffield
Image credit: Mike Purslow
A collection of spheroids, very hard stones used in the production of other stone tools and also thought to have ritual use, found at Arbor Low, currently on display at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The cist in 1848, illustrated in Bateman’s Ten Years Diggings, currently on display at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield
Image credit: Mike Purslow
January 29, 2026
Always worth checking in on this as I’m in the vicinity, especially given its vulnerability in suburban Dublin.
Image credit: ryaner
Porth dhe’n ster
Dewgh genev ha viajya a-dro dhe gonna tir Pedn an Wlas.Ow vysytya donsyow meyn, gogoyow, tylleryow oos horn, dy’golyow deys ha meyn kov Kristyon a-varr.Ow korfenna ryb Koyt Chi an Woon.Hag yw deskrifys gans ow howeth Doug avel “Porth dhe’n ster”.
January 27, 2026
Plans have been submitted to build 20 x 200m tall wind turbines on Barningham Moor close to Eel Hill and Osmoril Gill.
There is a section 35 in place which bypasses local planning so this could be passed by Secretary of State! Any suggestions as to how this can be stopped? There are over 60 cup and ring stones in this area.
January 26, 2026
Impressive fosse and bank on the western side of the barrow.
Image credit: ryaner
Way more impressive than I expected from reading about it in the Archaeological Inventory.
Image credit: ryaner
From the SMR at archaeology.ie:
© Tailte Éireann | National Monuments Services | National Monuments Service
ME044-023---- : Barrow – mound barrow : RATHREGAN
Description: Located on a slight NW-SE natural ridge that is unconnected with the NW-SE defunct railway line from Dublin to Athboy and Navan that is immediately to the NE. A NW-SE section of the Tolka River is c. 100m to the NE. This is depicted as a small circular feature described as a ‘Fort’ on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and as a hachured feature on the 1908 edition. It is a circular grass-covered mound (diam. of base 22m ENE-WSW; H 1.5-1.8m) that has a grass-covered quarry (diam. of top 8-9m; max. D 1.1m) on top. There are traces of a fosse (Wth of base c. 2m; ext. D 0.3m) at SW, and a straight outer bank at SW (Wth of base 7m; ext. H 0.9m; L c. 15m) and NW (L c. 20m) that might be unconnected with the barrow.
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.
Date of upload: 10 July 2007
Amended: 22 November 2021