Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Rathcaled

Situated on top of a small gently rising hill, surrounded by gently undulating grassland, with excellent views in all directions. The Irishtown River which marks the boundary with Paddinstown Lower is 140m to S. A circular shaped area (approx. diam. 32m N-S) enclosed by a poorly preserved earthen bank with entrance gap (Wth 1.9m) at SSE. The bank is visible from SE-SW, and elsewhere has been levelled. A post-1837 field fence running N-S intersects the monument at SW, and a post-1837 road forms the perimeter of the monument from W-NNW. A long irregular rough surfaced mound of earth and stones with its long axis ENE-WSW is visible across much of the N quadrant of the interior. Two depressions in the W quadrant appear to represent the remains of a Man-made underground passage (WM010-023001-). A small mound in the NW quadrant is probably the remains of a trigonometrical station marking the spot height 235 ft. which is depicted on all editions of the 6-inch OS maps. See attached sketch plan of monument. Compiled by: Frank Coyne and Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 9 June 2017