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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Tonaghbane

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Tonaghbane, County Cavan: a raised circular area, thirty-one point seven metres across inside the bank, enclosed by a substantial earthen rampart, a wide deep fosse, and a low counterscarp bank running from south-southwest to northwest-northwest. The OPW 1969 report said the entrance may have faced east-northeast. People may have lived there, fenced it, feared it, or simply passed around its rim; the earth still holds the shape of that choice.
Raised circular area (int. diam. 31.7m) enclosed by a substantial earthen bank and a wide, deep fosse encompassed by a low but well-defined counterscarp bank from SSW-NW. An earlier report (OPW 1969) recorded that the original entrance may have been at ENE. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008
A fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Tonaghbane is a raised circular early-medieval defensive or domestic site, typically dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries AD, characterized by an internal diameter of 31.7m, a substantial earthen bank, and a wide, deep fosse. Local folklore often associates such sites with the supernatural, including tales of fairies or other otherworldly beings.

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Recorded monument

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