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Fairy fort / ringfort in Gortnahorna (clanricarde)

Fairy fort / ringfort

What is recorded here

Half-buried in Gortnahorna grass, the fort keeps its shape like a breath held under water. A bank circles from southwest through west to north, while a sharp scarp completes the rest, and a six-metre gap faces east as if waiting for someone. Inside the northern half, a keyhole-shaped stone mound sits like a door handle on a hidden chamber. The fairies may have built it, but the shape suggests human hands, pride, and a threshold they never finished closing.
On a hummock in slightly undulating grassland. Poorly preserved subcircular rath (E-W 32m, N-S 27m) defined by a bank from SW through W to N; elsewhere a scarp forms the enclosing element. A gap (Wth 6m) at E could be original. Within N half of the interior, a keyhole-shaped mound of stone is visible. 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

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What survives
Recorded monument

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