What is recorded here

Indicated is a broken fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland, where a thick earthen bank still curves around pasture but the eastern wall has vanished into a flat rectangular ledge. The missing section may have been an annex or simply surrendered to ploughs and time, leaving the fort open like a cupped hand waiting to be filled. A natural pool sits nearby, reflecting sky and grass, while the earth keeps its own quiet measure of distance and forgetting.

In undulating, average pasture, built against the SE side of a low rise, immediately to NE of which is a natural water-filled depression. This rath appears originally to have been roughly circular or broadly oval in plan, but is now penannular (28.5m NNE–SSW; c. 28-32m WNW–ESE), open to E. It is enclosed at S–NE by a substantial earthen bank (Wth 6.7m; int. H 1.45m at NNW, 0.4m at SW; ext. H 1.45m at NNW, 2m at SW); the enclosing element at NE–SE and part of the interior have been dug away. The rath interior now opens to E, where it merges with a flat-topped sub-rectangular area (c. 25m ESE–WNW; c. 14m N–S) that extends to ESE from the rath. This subrectangular area constitutes part of the natural rise on which the rath is sited. It is incorporated on E and S into field boundaries and bounded on N by a scarp (H 1.7m) formed from the natural fall of ground. While it is possible that it once formed an annex to the rath, much of the scarping and modification now evident appears to date to the relatively recent past. There is an enclosure (MA038-112----) c. 100m to SW. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 13 August 2019

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.