What is recorded here

Half a kilometre of grass and ditch still marks the Brownrath fort, large enough to swallow a house and small enough to know by heart. The 1836 map drew two buildings inside and three more clinging to the bank, suggesting a crowded life rather than a empty legend. People may have farmed, hidden or worshipped there before the field cut through the middle, but the ditch remains deep enough to drown a shadow.

Situated on a slight S-facing slope. A circular embanked enclosure described as a ‘Fort’ is represented on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map with two internal buildings and three smaller structures on the bank or fosse. This is a subcircular grass-covered area (dims c. 68m N-S; c. 60m E-W) defined by a fosse that is best preserved (Wth of top 5.5m; Wth of base 2.6m; int. D 1.1m; ext. D 1.25m) at N. It is bisected by an ENE-WSW field bank with a lane on its S side, and a post-medieval house ruin is in the S interior. The fosse had been deepened into a pond E-S, and a berm (Wth 10-20m) separates the fosse from an outer field bank SE-W-ENE, which is represented on the OS maps and is probably the remains of attached annexes. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 10 July 2007 Amended: 29 October 2021

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