Ratass Church Explained

Ratass Church
Other Name:	Rathass Church
Native Name:	Teampall Ráth Teas
Native Name Lang:	ga
Pushpin Map:	Ireland
Relief:	yes
Coordinates:	52.267°N -9.6818°W
Location:	Quill Street, Tralee, County Kerry
Country:	Ireland
Denomination:	Catholic (pre-Reformation)
Functional Status:	ruined
Embedded:	Embed: yes Designation1: National Monument of Ireland Designation1 Number: 57 Designation1 Offname: Ratass Church & Ogham Stone^[1]
Style:	Romanesque
Years Built:	10th century AD
Length:	16m (52feet)
Width:	7.5m (24.6feet)
Floor Count:	1
Floor Area:	120m2
Materials:	sandstone, limestone, mortar^[2]
Diocese:	Ardfert and Aghadoe

Ratass Church is a medieval church with ogham stone inscriptions in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. It is a National Monument.^{[3] [4]}

Location

The church and adjacent graveyard are located 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] Later, a sandstone church was erected in the 10th century. It served as the episcopal seat of a diocese in Kerry 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 is from much earlier. Based on its Primitive Irish grammar, the inscription is estimated to be from around 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. The walls of a 19th-century burial vault had been built almost flush with it.^[11]

Notes and References

1. Web site: National Monuments in State Care: Ownership & Guardianship . 4 March 2009 . National Monuments Service . Ireland . 12 May 2021 .
2. Book: Moody . Theodore William . Martin . Francis X. . Byrne . Francis John . Cosgrove . Art . 23 August 1976. A New History of Ireland: Prehistoric and early Ireland . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-821737-4 . Google Books .
3. Web site: Ratass Church (Tralee, Ireland): Top Tips Before You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor . www.tripadvisor.ie .
4. Web site: Petrie . George . 23 August 2017 . The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland Anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion: Comprising an Essay on the Origin and Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland ... . Hodges and Smith . Google Books .
5. Web site: Smith . Charles . 23 August 2017 . The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry: Being a Natural, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Topographical Description Thereof ... . Mercier Press . Google Books .
6. Web site: Stokes . Margaret . 23 August 1875 . Notes on Irish Architecture: By Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven. . Gge Bell . Google Books .
7. Book: Monk . Michael A. . Sheehan . John . 23 August 1998 . Early Medieval Munster: Archaeology, History and Society . Cork University Press . 9781859181072 . Google Books .
8. Web site: Ratass Church and Ogham Stone, Rathass Cemetery, Tralee - GoKerry . www.gokerry.ie .
9. Web site: CISP - RATAS/1 . www.ucl.ac.uk .
10. Web site: Ogham in 3D - Ratass. ogham.celt.dias.ie.
11. Web site: Ratass Church and Ogham Stone, Tralee, Kerry.