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Indicated

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Indicated is a faded fairy fort on a north-facing slope in County Offaly, its twenty-nine metre circle so worn that trees and soil have disguised the ancient bank. The field name books of 1838 still called it an Ancient Fort, yet later surveyors saw only a tree-ring because the demesne had reused the shape for ornament. That shift reveals more than measurement: a place can stop being history and become decoration, its defense forgotten while its circle remains visible.
Situated on N facing slope of rising ground in undulating countryside. Present remains consist of a circular area (diam. 29m) the interior of which has been raised at NW to create a level interior, enclosed by poorly preserved earth and stone bank and outer fosse. No evidence of an entrance feature. Referred to as an 'Ancient Fort' in the OS Field Name Books 1838-40. Situated on demesne land and may have been reused as a tree-ring, has all the appearances of a landscape feature rather than a ringfort. Depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map as a tree-ring rather than an antiquity. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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What survives
Recorded monument

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