Rathbeagh facts for kids

Rathbeagh is a special hill located near the River Nore in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It's close to a town called Ballyragget. This place is very old and has many interesting stories and historical remains.

According to ancient Irish traditions, Rathbeagh is believed to be the burial spot of a legendary leader named Heremon. He was the son of Milesius, who was a very important Celtic chief, or Taoiseach, a long, long time ago.

What Does Rathbeagh Mean?

The name Rathbeagh comes from the Gaelic words Rath Beithigh. This means "the Rath of the Birch trees." A "Rath" is a type of ancient circular fort or settlement, often surrounded by a ditch and bank.

This area was once part of an old valley known as Mágh Airgid Rois. This beautiful name means "The Plain of the Silver Wood."

The Rath: An Ancient Fort

The Rath itself is a flat-topped, oval-shaped mound. It measures about 41 meters from north to south and 36 meters from east to west. Imagine a large, rounded hill!

Around this mound, there's a ditch, or fosse, which is about 3.7 meters wide. This ditch has a small gap where it meets the river. Outside the ditch, there's a rampart, which is like a wall of earth, about 3 meters high.

This whole structure sits overlooking a bend in the River Nore. The river could be crossed easily at this spot, making the Rath a very important place. It controlled who could cross the river, acting like an ancient checkpoint!

St. Catherine's Church and Graveyard

About 300 meters north of the Rath, you can find the remains of an old church. This church was dedicated to St. Catherine. It's built on the site where an even older castle or strong house once stood.

In the field next to the church, people have found what they believe were stables or workshops from long ago. The oldest gravestone that can still be read in the graveyard dates back to 1715.

The Pond of the Book

Just east of the old church, there's a pond under the road. Locals call it Poll Leabhair, which means "the Pond of the Book" or "Hole of the Book."

There's a sad story about this pond. During the Cromwellian wars, it's said that the church was damaged. A special church book called a Missal was supposedly thrown into this pond.

Later, in the mid-1800s, the church bell was found in a nearby sand-pit! It was then given to a church in Killeshan, Carlow.

St. Catherine's Well

Not far from the church and pond, there's a well known as St. Catherine's Well. Its exact location isn't perfectly clear today, but it's somewhere south of Poll Leabhair, between a field called The Paddock and the River Nore.

People used to believe that the water from this well had special powers. They thought it could help cure eye diseases.