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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Caldragh

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Mortons and others built a round home or hold on the Shannon bend, perhaps watching water traffic or keeping livestock from the river flood. The earth still draws a shallow circle beside the road, with a thin ditch and a gap where people once entered. The fairy name may have come later, when the true purpose faded and the empty ring began to sound like a trick.
Situated on a low-lying landscape c. 60m from the E bank of a N-S section of the River Shannon at a point where it turns W. This is a grass and scrub-covered circular area (int. diam. 33.5m N-S; 32.5m E-W) defined by a round-topped and overgrown earthen bank (Wth 2.8m; int. H 0.35m; ext. H 0.65m) N-S-W and by a scarp (H 0.8m) elsewhere. A slight external fosse (Wth 1.9-2.4m; D 0.25m) is intermittently visible. There is an entrance (Wth 2.5m) and causeway at S. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 September 2008

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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