About
On the eastern edge of Tralee, in Rath Cemetery, the largest in County Kerry, stands a roofless church believed to sit on a ringfort of around 500 to 600 AD, which gave the place its name, Ráth Mhaigh Théas, the fortress of the southern plain; the main road still follows the fort's curve. The first church, a single room of local purple sandstone, was built in the tenth century, and its west doorway and west end survive, with a chancel and south door added in the Romanesque period; early antiquarians admired its massive masonry. From 1111 to 1117 Ratass was the seat of the Diocese of Kerry, before the bishops moved to Ardfert. Inside the nave stand a sixth-century ogham stone inscribed for Sílán son of Fáithloga, with a simple Latin cross, and an early Christian cross-slab, both found during a clean-up in 1975. Burials continue here, and a hundred metres west is the Republican Plot. Reviewers find it hard to locate but rewarding for anyone who likes old graveyards.
Open in daylightFrom OPW Heritage Ireland's published times
- Open any reasonable time in daylight
Opening times may change at short notice.
An unguided open-air national monument in OPW's care with no staff and no facilities. OPW warns that care and caution should be kept throughout a visit to its unguided sites.
A short footpath through a working cemetery; a gravel floor inside the roofless church, where the ogham stone and cross-slab are fixed to the north wall. Uneven, close-packed graves. No toilets. The modern Church of the Immaculate Conception nearby is a different building.
Photo: The roofless early church at Ratass beyond the headstones of Rath Cemetery under a stormy sky. Kierandoc, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rathass_Church_Tralee_Kerry.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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