What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human ringforts misnamed by folklore. In Ahascragh East an oval rath still lies on a gentle E-facing slope, partly cut through by a field wall and marked by low banks, gaps and faint fosse traces. Its interior has been changed by a hay shed and feeding units, yet the shape remains large enough to suggest a settled place rather than a passing fantasy.

On a gentle E-facing slope. Poorly preserved oval rath (N-S 46.5m, E-W 40m) cut by a field wall at NW and NE. To N of the wall, a low bank is visible with traces of an external fosse at NW. A number of gaps occur in the bank. To S, a low platform is defined by a scarp with slight traces of the fosse at SW. The interior has been disturbed by the construction of a hay shed and feeding units. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

A fairy fort / ringfort in Ahascragh East is an early-medieval oval rath, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries, used as a defended homestead or farmstead. Local folklore associates such sites with the supernatural, often referring to them as dwellings of the "good people" or fairies.

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