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Barrow

Barrow, unclassified

What is recorded here

Barrow was a small circular fort on a Cavan drumlin, marked on maps before bulldozers erased it in the 1960s. Its low bank and shallow ditch enclosed barely enough room for a hearth, a loom, and the shadows of the people who lived there. The earth swallowed the name, the doors, and the arguments of the household, leaving only a faded line in survey notes. What was lost was not grandeur but the ordinary certainty that someone had stood at that exact spot, breathed, and belonged.
Marked 'Fort' on OS 1836 and 1876 eds. Sited on the WSW slope of a prominent drumlin ridge. Levelled in the early 1960s. The outline of the site was still identifiable in 1969 (OPW 1969). It apparently comprised a small raised subcircular area (int. dims. 8.7m E-W; 7.1m N-S) enclosed by a low earthen bank with possible traces of a shallow external fosse. There was a break in the bank at NNE (local information). Not visible at ground level. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008

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What survives
Recorded monument

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