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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Gortymadden

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Half-hidden in undulating Galway pasture, a circular rath twenty-five metres across still holds two banks and a shallow fosse, though grass has swallowed most of its edge. The visible arc runs from southwest to north, suggesting a place once strong enough to resist forgetting. Two later parallel banks curve away from the monument along a natural terrace, perhaps marking a boundary drawn in the nineteenth century after the old ring had already become local legend. An underground passage lies nearby, giving the fort a hidden depth that no amount of pasture can quite erase.
In undulating pastureland. Poorly preserved circular rath (diam. 25m) defined by two banks and an intervening fosse. The fosse and outer bank are visible from SW to N and for a short distance at SE. Two later parallel earthen banks (L 11.5m), some 2.5m apart, extend from the monument at SW and then curve to the NW and SE respectively where they follow the edge of a natural terrace. These features may be of 19th-century origin. A Man-made underground passage (GA106-081001-) is associated. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 4 January 2018

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What survives
Recorded monument

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