What is recorded here

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Lahardan is a fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Lahardan, County Sligo, Ireland. It occupies wet elevated pasture on a slight north-facing slope and measures twenty-two metres north-south by eighteen metres east-west. A one-metre-twenty-five-centimetre scarp and a five-metre-wide waterlogged fosse define the circular area, while an external bank reaches one-metre-fifty-five-centimetres high on the outside. Dense gorse now covers the southern interior, fosse and part of the bank.

In wet elevated pasture, on a slight N-facing slope. A raised circular area (22m N-S; 18m E-W) defined by a scarp (H 1.25m) and an external waterlogged fosse (base Wth 5m). An external bank (int. H 0.9m; ext. H 1.55m) is evident SSE-NNW and for a short distance at NE. The bank is incorporated into a field boundary SSE-SSW. A NE-SW drystone field boundary wall crosses the fosse at NE and extends along the top of the scarp NE-SE and then crosses the fosse again. Another field boundary, now disused, crosses the fosse and abuts the scarp at NNW. The interior slopes gently down to N with some limestone outcrops at the centre. The S half of the interior, the fosse and the external bank are densely overgrown with gorse. Another rath (SL034-147----) lies immediately to NW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Lahardan is a likely early-medieval defensive or agricultural settlement, characterized by a circular raised area with a scarp and external fosse. Local folklore often associates such sites with supernatural beings, particularly fairies, and they were traditionally avoided for farming or construction out of respect for these beliefs.

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