What is recorded here

Fairy forts are not forts at all: they are ringforts mislabelled by fear, and Newtownrathganley is no exception. Its grassy oval, shallow scarp and faint bank have stood on the northwest-facing slope since before carts, roads or maps, perhaps as a farmyard, perhaps as a boundary marker for a family who are no longer named. The fairies enter only when people stop believing the shape was made by hands.

Situated on a NW-facing slope. It is depicted as a circular embanked enclosure (ext. diam. c. 35m) described as a ‘Fort’ on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and as an oval feature on the 1912 edition. This is an oval grass-covered area (dims 40m NNW-SSE; 25m ENE-WSW) defined by a scarp (at NW: Wth 1.6m; H 0.6m; at SE: Wth 3.2m; H 0.6m) with slight intimations of a bank (at NW: Wth of base 4m; int. H 0.5m) but with no visible fosse or identifiable original entrance. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 27 August 2019

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