What is recorded here

Marianne and I walked into Rathnashannagh at dusk, when the shallow circle stopped looking like a mistake and began looking like a room without walls. She touched the faint bank and laughed, not at me but at the idea that humans had needed permission to occupy so little. We sat inside the twenty-two metre pause, eating bread until dark, and I wondered whether the fort was empty or waiting for people stupid enough to stop asking what it wanted.

The following description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Carlow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 Visible as shallow circular depression (diam. 22m)surrounded by faint traces of bank. Entrance probably at SW.

A fairy fort in Rathnashannagh is an earthen ringfort, typically dating to the early medieval period (c. 500–1000 AD), and is associated with Irish folklore regarding faeries and other supernatural beings. Such sites were often believed to be the homes of the "good people" and were treated with local reverence or caution.

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