What is recorded here

Mondellihy holds two conjoined earthen rings, one north and one south, where stone-faced banks still trace the shape of human hands. The southern ring has been flattened into a gentle ramp, yet the northern bank rises enough to suggest a boundary drawn deliberately. Cattle graze the pasture above the scarps, unaware that they walk across a place people shaped before maps existed.

In pasture on slight E-facing slope, moderate views in all directions, 8m N of the townland boundary with Gortaganniff, ringfort (LI021-011002----) to the immediate N. Westropp described the conjoined ringforts as following “Mondellihy Rings…They lie north and south and consist of two earthen rings, one stone-faced and capped with dry stone walls’ (Westropp 1921, 183). Present remains consist of a slightly raised circular-shaped area (dims. 24m N-S; 22m E-W) defined by an earth and stone bank mainly reduced to a scarp (Wth 1.8m; H 0.4m) that has been levelled from N to E and a ramp (Wth. 4m) across scarp at S. Poorly preserved monument visible on Google Earth image taken 2018. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 9 July 20202

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Mondellihy, likely an early-medieval agricultural or defensive site, is associated with local folklore of faeries and other supernatural beings common to Irish tradition. Westropp noted its proximity to another ringfort, suggesting a possible territorial or social connection between the two sites.

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