Ratass Church

Ratass Church
Rathass Church
Teampall Ráth Teas
Ratass Church
Ratass Church
52°16′01″N9°40′55″W / 52.267007°N 9.681814°W / 52.267007; -9.681814
Location	Quill Street, Tralee, County Kerry
Country	Ireland
Denomination	Catholic (pre-Reformation)
Architecture
Functional status	Ruined
Style	Romanesque
Years built	10th century AD
Specifications
Length	16 m (52 ft)
Width	7.5 m (25 ft)
Number of floors	1
Floor area	120 m2 (1,300 sq ft)
Materials	Sandstone, limestone, mortar [1]
Administration
Diocese	Ardfert and Aghadoe
National monument of Ireland
Official name	Ratass Church & Ogham Stone [2]
Reference no.	57

Ratass Church is a medieval church with ogham stone inscriptions in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. It is a National Monument. ^{[3] [4]}

Location

The church and adjacent graveyard are located on Quill Street, in the eastern suburbs of Tralee. ^[5]

History

It is believed that a ringfort or embanked enclosure was built here first (Rath Mhaighe Teas, "fort of the southern plain"). ^[6] Later, a sandstone church was erected in the 10th century. It served as the episcopal seat of a diocese in Kerry from 1111 to 1117, when the seat was moved to Ardfert. ^[7] The west gable and part of the nave walls belong to this earlier construction; the rest of the church is later. ^[8]

Ogham Stone

The ogham stone

The Ogham Stone is from much earlier. Based on its Primitive Irish grammar, the inscription is estimated to be from around AD 550–600. ^[9]

The stone is of fine purple sandstone (145 × 34 × 20 cm), with the inscription "[A]NM SILLANN MAQ VATTILLOGG" ("name of Sílán son of Fáithloga"). ^[10] It was discovered in 1975 during a cleanup. The walls of a 19th-century burial vault had been built almost flush with it. ^[11]

References

1. Moody, Theodore William; Martin, Francis X.; Byrne, Francis John; Cosgrove, Art (23 August 1976). A New History of Ireland: Prehistoric and early Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-821737-4 – via Google Books.
2. "National Monuments in State Care: Ownership & Guardianship" (PDF). Ireland: National Monuments Service. 4 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
3. "Ratass Church (Tralee, Ireland): Top Tips Before You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor". www.tripadvisor.ie.
4. Petrie, George (23 August 2017). "The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland Anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion: Comprising an Essay on the Origin and Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland ..." Hodges and Smith – via Google Books.
5. Smith, Charles (23 August 2017). "The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry: Being a Natural, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Topographical Description Thereof ..." Mercier Press – via Google Books.
6. Stokes, Margaret, ed. (23 August 1875). "Notes on Irish Architecture: By Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven". Gge Bell – via Google Books.
7. Monk, Michael A.; Sheehan, John (23 August 1998). Early Medieval Munster: Archaeology, History and Society. Cork University Press. ISBN   9781859181072 – via Google Books.
8. "Ratass Church and Ogham Stone, Rathass Cemetery, Tralee". GoKerry. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019.
9. "CISP - RATAS/1". UCL Institute of Archaeology. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
10. "Ratass". Ogham in 3D.
11. "Ratass Church and Ogham Stone, Tralee, Kerry". Megalithic Ireland.