Discover Alone, back to main map

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Maelra

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Half-hidden beneath the grass of the Maelra hills, the ringfort keeps its circular memory in a shallow scar and a faint outer ditch. The limekiln and quarry mark the hungry decades when the land was taken for stone and profit, yet the high ground still faces the sky with its old defiance. What was levelled does not stop remembering; it waits for someone to walk the hidden line and imagine the life that once turned within it.
On an area of high ground, in pasture, with good views in all directions. Depicted on the 1897 ed. OS 25-inch map as a circular-shaped enclosure (approx. diam. 30m) with quarry hole (30m NE-SW; 22m NW-SE) and a disused limekiln to the immediate S. Surveyed by the ASI in 2008 and described as the levelled remains of a circular-shaped area (26m NNE-SSW x 25m ESE-WNW) defined by a poorly preserved scarp (H 0.4m) with the remains of an external fosse (Wth 6.55m; D 0.2m) visible from NE-E-S-W-N and at SE. Rock outcrop visible at NE. According to local information, the ringfort was levelled during land consolidation works a number of decades ago and the area to S is a backfilled quarry. Levelled monument not visible on Google Earth orthoimages taken 28/06/2018. See attached sketch plan and cross-sections surveyed and drawn by the ASI. Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 19 July 2020

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

Places near here

Add to this placeAdd a picture Comment or add a tip

Explore 1,118,481 places