Longstone Rath
{{Short description|Ringfort in County Tipperary, Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name =Longstone Rath
| native_name = Ráth na Cloiche Fada
| native_name_lang =ga
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| image = Longstone,_Cullen.jpg
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| caption = Longstone viewed in situ.
| map =
| map_type = Ireland
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| coordinates = {{coord|52.506051|-8.297753|display=inline,title}}
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| location = Longstone, Cullen, County Tipperary, Ireland
| region = Munster
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| area = {{convert|2,400|m2|acre|abbr=on}}
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| diameter = {{convert|55|m|yd|abbr=on}}
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| material = earth, limestone
| built = 1 AD
| abandoned =
| epochs = Iron Age
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| excavations = 1973–76
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| other_designation = National Monument
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}}
Longstone Rath ({{Langx|ga|Ráth na Cloiche Fada}}) is a ringfort (rath) and National Monument located in County Tipperary, Ireland.
Location
History and archaeology
The longstone, a lump of limestone about {{convert|2.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in height, is located on a mound within a bivallate ringfort.[http://www.megalithicmonumentsofireland.com/COUNTIES/TIPPERARY/LongstoneKilcornan_StandingStone.html MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS OF IRELAND.COM: Longstone] The site was excavated in 1973–76 by P. Danaher,{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=1342|isbn=}} where 4,000 potsherds, 6 complete vessels, over 400 flint scrapers, cremated bones and grooved ware pottery were found. The mound is thought to date from c. AD 1 (mid-Iron Age), with the rath being added about AD 600.[http://www.megalithomania.com/show/site/2049/longstone_standing_stone.htm "Longstone" on Megalithomania]{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Archaeology/Unpublished_Excavations_30-97_2002.pdf |title=Unpublished Excavations in the Republic of Ireland 1930-1997 |access-date=2015-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924063148/http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Archaeology/Unpublished_Excavations_30-97_2002.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book | url=https://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/21570/page/605718 | title=Seventy-eighth annual report of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, with appendices, 1909-10 | page=51 | via=Documenting Ireland: Parliament, People and Migration | accessdate=10 October 2021 }}
According to Prof. Peter Danaher, Carrowkeel-style bowls from the complex site at Longstone seem to indicate a transitory camp of passage-tomb folk, and the hilltop was also used by Beaker, Food Vessel and Urn peoples, indicating that the site was a "halting site" for many thousands of years before the longstone and rath were made.[http://www.archaeology.ie/sites/default/files/media/publications/smi-vol-4-text.pdf Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland, Volume IV (1986), page 111.]
Nearby is Cullen Bog in which votive offerings were placed including many gold and bronze artefacts.{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=486|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}