What is recorded here

Mary Fort stands on a wooded hillock above Maryfort Lough and Castle Lough, preserving a D-shaped ringfort with a low inner ring and broad fosse. Westropp measured its slope and visible distant lakes in 1908, while Maryfort House lay less than ninety metres south. The timber now hides much of that view, but the earthworks still mark a place chosen for command, memory and perhaps warning.

On a wooded hillock, overlooking Maryfort Lough and Castle Lough to NE. Views inhibited by enclosing woodland. It is named ‘Mary Fort’ on the 1899 edition of the OS 25-inch map. It is depicted on the 1899 edition of the OS 25-inch map and the 1920 edition of the OS 6-inch map as a D-shaped area (38m NW-SE; 30m NE-SW) defined by a single enclosing element. Described by Westropp (1908-9, 391) as measuring, ‘108 feet north and south, and 130 feet over all, falling southward (6 feet in 108 feet along the slope), with a fosse and low inner ring, each 9 feet wide, the latter [up to] 5 feet high. The hill, despite its planting, has a beautiful outlook, the faint blue hills in King’s County being visible beyond Lough Derg; the old castle at Fortane [CL027-036----]…and three lakes showing from the slopes’. The site of the former Maryfort House is located c. 88m to S. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 11 December 2018

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