What is recorded here

Half a circle of broken stone and half a straight field wall, the fort in Coolnaha North is a room the land stopped finishing. Grass, ferns and a small heap of stones fill what may have been a dwelling, a pen or a boundary marker, while cultivation ridges cut through the memory like plough lines on water. It is the kind of place that invites invention because the evidence has thinned to a suggestion.

Not indicated on any edition of the OS 6-inch maps; identified from an aerial photograph (GSI M 553 –2; Roll 217, pr. 4; SMR file). A D-shaped area (c. 34m NE–SW; 27m NW−SE to field wall) defined on the curving side at N–SW by a ruined stone bank (Wth 2-2.5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.5m at E), and on the straight side at NW by a field wall on a NE–SW axis. The enclosing stone bank is reduced to a slight rise at N–NE. It is best preserved at E where it survives as a low rise of earth and stone, incorporating some loose field clearance stones. There are two adjacent breaks (Wth c. 3m) at SE–S and a larger break (Wth 7.3m) at SSW. The interior, which is not significantly raised above exterior ground level, has a slight slope down from centre to SE. Traces of cultivation ridges on a NE–SW axis, are evident in the interior, and can also be seen in the surrounding field to N and E. Slightly SE of centre, there is a partly sod-covered heap (6.5m NE–SW; c. 3m NW–SE; H 0.5m) of field stones. The interior is grassy, and the enclosing stone bank is marked by sod and ferns. Remnants of an E−W field wall clip the SE–S edge of the enclosure. This appears to be the SW half of an originally circular enclosure, but there is no trace now at ground level of the NW half of enclosure to NW of the field wall. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 30 June 2022

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.