What is recorded here
Indicated is a stony oval fort on a Mayo slope, watching a stream bend below. Its broken bank and hidden ditch still mark the edge of a small life long forgotten. Hazel and bramble now fill the gap where people once entered, turning memory into green shadow.
In pasture, straddling the rocky break of slope at the top of a SE-facing slope, overlooking a bend in a stream, which is located at the base slope immediately to E−SE.
Oval area (31.5m NE−SW; 20m NW−SE) defined by a stony earthen bank/scarp, and enclosed by a fosse with remnants of an external bank on the SW arc.
The inner bank (Wth 5.4m; int. H 1m at SW, 1.45m at W; ext. H 1.5m at SW, 2.3m at W) incorporates much small angular stones. At NE-SSE the bank is reduced to a scarp (Wth slope 4.5-5m; ext. H 3m) which has a steep external slope, merging with the natural fall of ground. There is much stone tumble on the external slope, and at S it incorporates an area of natural bedrock. On the N arc the external face of the bank is incorporated into a later E−W field fence.
The fosse (Wth 3.5m at SW, 3m at W) and external bank (Wth 4.2m; int. H 0.75m; ext. H 1.3m, at SW) are best preserved on the SW arc. At SW−NW the external bank has been incorporated into or truncated by a later field fence. At NW−NE fosse is evident as a slight depression and the external bank has been levelled. On the E arc the fosse and external bank are barely discernible. There is a break (Wth 3.2m) in the inner bank at NE, now blocked on its outer edge by a later E−W field fence; this may be the location of an original entrance.
The interior is grass-covered, with encroachment of hazel and brambles; the perimeter is densely ringed with hazel, hawthorn and brambles. There is another rath (MA040-034----) 170m to N.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 22 May 2020
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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