This site is in the grounds of Furness House and permission must be obtained to visit. I have been waiting to get here for over three years now and I was not disappointed when I finally made it.
The 'rath' is not a rath, but a ceremonial henge. Unusually the ditch is on the outside of the bank, which is presumably why people considered it to be a rath or fort. On the south and east sides the ditch is over 1.5m deep and the bank rises up to over 5m above its base.
The inner sanctum is around 60m in diameter and must approach half an acre in area. The banks are over 8ft above the floor level within. There are two definite entrances facing due east and due west. Set at the centre of the henge is the sites real, semi-hidden secret: the longstone that give the site its name.
This is the last of the Kildare longstone that I had left to visit and it's one of the most impressive. It is over 5m tall and very similar to the one at Craddockstown West (County Kildare). It is the most organic-looking of them all and it towers above a large, open cist at its base.
The pleasure and excitement I got from finally being here was an experience I'll never forget. The air seemed electric and even the small amount of drizzle that fell for the first few minutes of my visit couldn't dampen the wonder.
This site truly is one of the greatest pieces of Ireland's prehistoric heritage.
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_Access to this site is by arrangement only. See the link for Furness House for more information.
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Newtown Hill (Co. Dublin) |  Banagher (Co. Cavan) |  Skirk (Co. Laois) |
 Toor (Co. Wicklow) |  Dowth (Co. Meath) |  Coumaraglin SE - Henge (Co. Waterford) |
