What is recorded here

Half-buried in marsh and river spoil, the Ratharney fort keeps its circular shape under a skin of drainage dirt. Its earthen bank and hidden ditch still trace a thirty-three-metre chamber on the wet ground beside the Inny, though no entrance remains visible. The fort may have been a household, a refuge or a boundary marker, but the river has taken most of its answer.

On low-lying, marshy ground immediately N of the Inny River. Depicted as a circular enclosure with the designation ‘Fort’ on the 1837 edition of the OS 6-inch map. A report in 1987 (SMR file) noted that this raised circular area (diam. 33m) was defined by a wide low earthen bank, set on a scarp, from N-NE-E. Only the scarp (max. H 0.25m) is visible. At its base is an infilled fosse (Wth 1.6m). A levelled outer bank (Wth 4.8m; H 0.35m) is evident from N–E–SE. The S half of the monument lies under drainage spoil from the adjacent river. The original entrance is not recognisable. Adjoining the rath at W is a smaller enclosure (LF023-106001-) that is possibly an annexe. Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 15 February 2012

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Ratharney, likely dating to the early medieval period, is situated on low-lying, marshy ground near the Inny River. It appears on the 1837 OS 6-inch map as a circular enclosure marked 'Fort,' and local tradition associates it with fairy folklore, as suggested by its name.

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