What is recorded here

Indicated is a fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland, holding a level oval basin within a ridgeline where pasture and bog collide. Its earthen scarp still stands though broken in places, marking a boundary between human fields and older unseen life. The land remembers shape even when memory fades, and the fort remains a visible claim that somewhere beneath the soil, presence still waits.

In pasture, located at the W end of an E–W ridge, with a steep fall of ground to S giving extensive views over an expanse of pasture and bog. There is a dip in ground to NNW into a lowlying area fed by a stream. Raised broadly oval area (29.5m NNW–SSE; 25.9 ENW–WSW) defined by an earthen scarp. The scarp (H 1.5m) is well defined at SSE–NW, but is dilapidated at N–SE, and a portion has been dug away at E–SW. Outside the scarp at W–N, the natural contours of the ridge provide a level terrace defined on its outer edge by a scarp (H 1.8m); at SW and N the terrace peters out to a broad slope. The rath interior is level. There is a shallow depression (c. 5m E–W; c. 4m N–S), adjacent to the scarp at W. This may relate to a Man-made underground passage (MA050-004002-), which according to local information, is located in the interior. A field wall/property boundary on a NNW–SSE axis bisected the interior to E of centre, and a perpendicular sod-covered field bank extends to WSW through the SW quadrant. Gorse, brambles and blackthorn intermittently ring the perimeter, and encroach on the interior in parts. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 12 June 2020

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