Ratass Church
Rathass Church
Teampall Ráth Teas
Ratass Church
Ratass Church is located in Ireland
Ratass Church
Ratass Church
52°16′01″N 9°40′55″W / 52.267007°N 9.681814°W / 52.267007; -9.681814
LocationQuill Street, Tralee, County Kerry
CountryIreland
DenominationCatholic (pre-Reformation)
Architecture
Functional statusruined
StyleRomanesque
Years built10th century AD
Specifications
Length16 m (52 ft)
Width7.5 m (25 ft)
Number of floors1
Floor area120 m2 (1,300 sq ft)
Materialssandstone, limestone, mortar[1]
Administration
DioceseArdfert and Aghadoe
Official nameRatass 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. 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". www.gokerry.ie.
  9. ↑ "CISP - RATAS/1". www.ucl.ac.uk.
  10. ↑ "Ogham in 3D - Ratass". ogham.celt.dias.ie.
  11. ↑ "Ratass Church and Ogham Stone, Tralee, Kerry".


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