Rathbeagh

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Rathbeagh is one of the most significant historical sites in the parish of Lisdowney near Ballyragget, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The Gaelic name is Rath Beithigh, meaning the Rath of the Birch trees. It is located in an ancient valley once called Mágh Airgid Rois (The Plain of the Silver Wood - perhaps a reference to Silver Birch trees). Tradition says it was founded by Heremon, son of the Celtic Taoiseach Milesius and that he is buried there.

It consists of a flat-topped oval mound about 41m North to South and 36m East to west. A fosse 3.7m wide surrounds the mound, leaving a gap at the rivers edge. Outside there is a rampart about 3m high. The whole structure overlooks a bend on the Nore. The river is fordable at this location, so strategically the fort controlled the crossing. Parts of the Rath are being eroded by the presence of livestock in the field.

The remains of a church dedicated to St. Catherine is located in the graveyard situated just about 300m North of the Rath. The church is built on the site of an earlier castle or stronghouse. Remains of what are believed to be stables or workshops were discovered in the adjacent field. The earliest gravestone date that can be distinguished in the graveyard is 1715.

Just East of the old church is a pond under the road, known locally as Poll Leabhair meaning the Pond or Hole of the Book. It is a tradition that the church was desecrated during the Cromwellian wars and the Missal was dumped in this pond. In the mid 1800's the church bell was found in a sand-pit in a nearby field and was presented to the Church Of Ireland Church in Killeshan, Carlow according to Carrigans History of Ossory.

A well nearby is known as St. Catherine's Well, it's specific location is unclear, but it is somewhere a short distance south of Poll Leabhair and between the field known as The Paddock and the river Nore. Oral history records that the well's water was very popular as a cure for eye disease.