Ratass Church

Ratass Church is a medieval church with ogham stone forming a National Monument in Tralee, Ireland.[3][4]

Ratass Church
Rathass Church
Teampall Ráth Teas
Ratass Church
Ratass Church
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

Location

The church is located in a graveyard 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] before a sandstone church was erected in the 10th century AD, and served as the centre of Kerry diocese 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 much earlier; based on the Primitive Irish grammar, it is placed in 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; it had been built into the sides of a 19th-century burial vault.[11]

References


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