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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Castletown (morgallion By.)

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Morgallion holds a forty-eight metre earthen ring where a tangential ramp still cuts through the south bank. People called it a fairy fort, but it may have been a human home, a defensive checkpoint or a marker for a local leader. The grass and scrub hide the shape of rooms, doors and fires that once used the space.
Situated on a gentle E-facing slope. This was described in 1968 (SMR file) as a raised grass and scrub-covered circular area (diam. 48.5m NW-SE) defined by an earthen bank (Wth of base 15.5m at SE to 6m at NW; int. H 0.4m at SE to 0.8m at NW; ext. H 1.9m at NW to 2.1m at SE) with some scrub, and an outer fosse (at SE: Wth of top 5.8m; Wth of base 2m; ext. D 0.6m: at NW: Wth of top 7.5m; Wth of base 2.5m; ext. D 0.9m) S-WNW that is reduced to a slight berm elsewhere. The original entrance could be the oversailing of the bank at S as it approaches from the W that creates a tangential ramp entrance (L 7.5m; Wth of base 1.4m) rising from the E. In the interior a slightly raised circular area (diam. 9.6m E-W; 8.9m E-W; max. H 0.5m) W of the centre could be a hut-site. 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 Moo Date of upload: 10 July 2007 Amended: 2 August 2022, 15 December 2022 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 11/1970).

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What survives
Recorded monument

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