Ratass Church

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

Ratass Church
Rathass Church
Teampall Ráth Teas
Ratass Church
Ratass Church
52.267007°N 9.681814°W / 52.267007; -9.681814
Location	Quill Street, Tralee, County Kerry
Country	Ireland
Denomination	Catholic (pre-Reformation)
Architecture
Functional status	Ruined
Style	Romanesque
Years built	10th century AD
Specifications
Length	16 m (52 ft)
Width	7.5 m (25 ft)
Number of floors	1
Floor area	120 m2 (1,300 sq ft)
Materials	Sandstone, limestone, mortar[1]
Administration
Diocese	Ardfert and Aghadoe
National monument of Ireland
Official name	Ratass Church & Ogham Stone[2]
Reference no.	57

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

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]