The focal point of this archaeological landscape is Rathcroghan Mound. 85m in diameter and 6m high, it is perched on the summit of the great limestone plateau which characterises this area. Surrounded by a 360m diameter enclosure, this quiet field today was once filled with monumental architecture and busy with people. Geophysical surveys have shown the Mound to have a complex, multi-period, internal structure constructed in several phases. Deep inside are two circular stone settings or stone walls, of 22m and 35m diameter respectively. On top of the mound, surveys revealed a double circle of post pits around a circular stone core, 32m in diameter. This is likely to be the remains of a large-scale, possibly roofed, timber structure, which would have once stood as a major statement over the immediate region.

Uaimh na gCat, The Cave of the Cats is described in our early literature as one of the principal portals into the Irish Otherworld. This extensive limestone cavern was venerated by the communities who resided at Rathcroghan in the early medieval period, to such a degree that they constructed a formal entrance and passageway to provide access into this geological phenomenon. Ancient ogham inscriptions are to be found within the passage entrance, while the early medieval literary sources are replete with tales which concern the cave. These are particularly associated the Morrigan (Ireland’s battle goddess), monstrous creatures, warriors, and with the ancient seasonal festival of Samhain, the modern Halloween.

One of the indicators that Rathcroghan was and is one of the most important and uniquely preserved archaeological landscapes in Ireland corresponds with the large numbers of, primarily earthen, monuments which are still evident in the fields around Rathcroghan Mound. Dozens of Bronze and Iron Age burial mounds, such as Rathbeg, Caran Fort, Daithí’s Mound, Rathscreg, Carnakit and others, attest to this place being described as a ‘Cemetery of Kings’, while medieval elite settlement sites, chief among them Rathmore, Relignaree and Cashelmanannan, confirm Rathcroghan as a place of extraordinary importance throughout the millennia.

The Mucklaghs are a monumental pair of linear earthworks located on the southern slopes of the Rathcroghan plateau, and are said to have been caused by the rootings of a magical boar who emerged from nearby Oweynagat.They consist of two pairs of parallel earthen banks which extend to a maximum of nearly 300m in length, and may have served as a formal route of approach towards the monuments at the top of the plateau , but they could be compared with the Banqueting Hall at Tara and the Knockans at Teltown in Meath.

Rathcroghan’s central place in the early Irish literary tradition elevates Its significance still further. Its connection with sagas such as the Táin Bó Cualinge and Acclamh na Senórach speak of its retained value to early medieval society, coupled with its mention in, particularly, Patrician hagiography. The names in the physical landscape then reflect these great epics with Rathcroghan being the muster point of Queen Medb’s armies, Rathnadarve the place where the magical bulls Finnbennach and Donn Cuailnge did battle, and burial mounds like Carnakit and nearby Carnfree the final repose of the heroic warriors of these tales.