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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Sleehaun

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Mentioned in local tradition as a fairy fort, the earthen ring in Sleehaun is an ordinary rath: a low oval bank and deep outer ditch at the south-east end of a pasture ridge. People may have lived there before the entrance vanished, but no name or date remains. Later they planted trees around it, turning a human house into a shade for livestock. The fairies are invention; the earth and ditch are not.
At the SE end of a low NW-SE ridge in pasture. A raised oval area (c. 35m N-S; c. 31m E-W) enclosed by a partially denuded, low bank of earth and stone (Wth 3m; H 0.2-0.3m). A narrow, deep, external fosse (Wth 1.2m; D 1m), which has been modified and incorporated into the field-drainage system, survives from W-NW-N. The original entrance is not recognisable. The rath was reused as a tree-ring in relatively modern times. Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 18 January 2012

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

What survives
Recorded monument

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