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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Killarue

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Killarue holds a D-shaped earthen ringfort on a drumlin spine, marked as a fort in gothic lettering on an 1834 map. The surviving bank is low, cloaked in grass and scrub, yet it still draws a line across the ridge where human hands shaped the land. It is the kind of place that invites more than measurement, as if the fort were never only a fort but a threshold between the ordinary field and the hidden life of the hills.
Located towards the top of the SE-facing spine of a NW-SE drumlin ridge. It is depicted as a subcircular embanked enclosure (ext. dims c. 35m E-W; c. 30m N-S) on the 1834 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described in gothic lettering as a ‘fort’. It is also represented as the SW half of a hachured enclosure on the 1907 edition. It survives as a D-shaped grass and scrub-covered area (dims c. 25m NW-SE; c. 10m NE-SW) defined by a slight earthen bank (at SE: Wth 2m; int. H 0.6m; ext. H 1m) SE-S-NW. There is no visible fosse or evidence of the monument NE of a NW-SE field bank. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of revision: 17 July 2007

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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