What is recorded here

Forty years of rain erased the last visible ridge, but the ground still holds the shape of a fifty metre circle. The fort swallowed whole farms and whole memories before the bulldozers arrived. What was taken is gone, what was hidden remains. The earth keeps its own counsel and waits for patience.

Levelled in the early 1980s. An earlier report (OPW 1970) described an unusually large circular area (int. diam. c. 50m) enclosed by a substantial earthen bank and a wide, deep fosse. Original entrance may have been at SE. 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

A fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Callanagh Upper is a likely early-medieval defensive or ritual site, characterised by a large circular enclosure with a substantial bank and fosse. Such sites are often associated with both ancient habitation and later folklore linking them to the faerie folk or supernatural realms.

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