What is recorded here

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Newtown (cloonagh By.) is a ruined oval platform in County Limerick, Ireland. It stands in pasture beside Newtown House, with a thin bank, wide ditch and outer ridge circling a raised area about forty metres across. People may have lived, hidden or marked territory there before fields and tracks changed the shape of the place. What remains is enough to show that the ground was made, not simply grown.

In reclaimed pasture 330m SW of Newtown House. Enclosure (LI033-155----) 185m to NW. Depicted on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map as a raised oval-shaped platform defined by a scarp with fosse, bank and external fosse only visible from E-S-W-WNW. Gap in outer bank visible at SSE. Fosse, bank and external fosse were not shown from WNW-N-ENE on OSi 25-inch map. A stream lies 40m to SW. Surveyed by the ASI in 2007 and described as a raised oval-shaped platform ( dims. 36m N-S; 44m E-W) enclosed by a poorly preserved bank (Wth 9.7m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 1.15m) and wide fosse (Wth 11.6m; basal Wth 1.6; D 0.8m) with outer bank (Wth 6.7m; int. H 0.8m; ext. H 0.05m) and causewayed entrance gap (Wth 5.5m) at NW. Entrance gap may be a modern feature. Poorly preserved inner bank visible from NW-E, SSE-S and W-NNW, reduced to a scarp elsewhere. Fosse and outer bank visible from visible from ENE-SE and from WSW-W. A field boundary running E-W to the immediate N has been removed and a farm track running NNW-SSE lies 30m to W. Described in 1960-4 as a; ’Platform 180 feet (55.8m) in diameter with traces of a bank at its edge. Encircled by a 15 feet (4.57m) wide ditch which has an outer bank except on its SE side where the level of the field is higher than the earthwork. Platform 10 feet (3m) high’ (O’Dwyer 1964, 96; Newtown 75). Monument is clearly visible on OSi orthophoto taken between 2005-2012 and on Google Earth orthoimage dated 18/11/2018. See attached Google Earth orthoimages and profile of monument drawn by O'Dwyer 1964 Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick Date of upload: 30 March 2021 See attached ASI aerial photograph ASIAP – 310/27, 28, 29, 30 taken 13/09/2002.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.