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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Kiltycarney

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human ringforts misnamed by later folklore. In Kiltycarney, a faint earthen bank still circles a shallow grassy hollow on a gentle slope, measuring about twenty-four metres across. Cattle graze above it now, but the ridge remains visible enough for survey instruments to trace its shape. People may have lived there long before written records, raising a wall against rain and neighbours, then leaving it to soften into the land.
Situated on a gentle E-facing slope in improved pasture. It was first identified by Susan Curran as part of an M.A. thesis with University College Dublin using a LiDAR survey dataset commissioned by Leitrim County Council and the National Roads Authority. This is a circular area (diam. 24m E-W; 22m N-S) defined by the slight remains of an earthen bank (at W; Wth of base 8.7m; Wth of top 4m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.05m) S-W-N (upslope), which is reduced to an external scarp (Wth 3m; H 0.4m) N-E-S. There are traces of a fosse (at W: Wth of top 6m; Wth of base 2.5m; D 0.15m) S-W-NE (upslope), but there is no identifiable entrance. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 11 May, 2015

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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