Fortfield, fairy fort in County Westmeath

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What is recorded here

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Situated on SSE face of a gentle slope in undulating and hilly grass-land, overlooked by hills to the NNW & ESE. Ringfort (WM008-048----) 300m to NW. A sub-circular shaped area (approx. diam. 44m N-S; 46m E-W) enclosed by a substantial earthen bank and a wide deep external fosse. The bank has several disturbance gaps. There is an entrance gap (Wth 3.8m) and causeway (Wth 3.2m; H 0.35m) across the fosse at E. The interior has a general slight slope from NNW-SSE and contains traces of cultivation ridges which run WNW-ESE. At the centre of the interior is a circular earthen mound (diam. 5.8m; H 0.4m) of unknown significance. This small mound could be the remains of a small barrow and is clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011. This earthwork is located in the same general area as 'Rinechan Castle' *WM008-076----) depicted on the 1657 Down Survey map of Fore barony and St. Feighin's parish (NLI MS 723-4). It is possible that the mound inside the ringfort could mark the site of the levelled castle of Ranaghan.

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record WM008-049

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Photo credits

Photographer not named; article written by Joe Potter, www.collinstown.ie
Maker not stated on source page, www.dreamstime.com
Maker not stated on source page, commons.wikimedia.org
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Oliver Dixon, Geograph · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
Maker not stated on source page, www.pinterest.com
Maker not stated on source page, en.wikipedia.org
Maker not stated on source page, www.irishcentral.com

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