What is recorded here

Indicated is a fairy fort on a western rise above Swinford, its oval grassy interior still flat and unmarked after centuries of rain and foot traffic. The land itself built most of the boundary, steepening at the west and north while leaving a narrow gap toward the ridge spine where someone may have entered. It stands seventy metres from another rath, as if the hill were sharing a secret between two small chambers. Pasture and field fences have since pressed against it, but the shape remains clear enough to stop a traveller looking for a way through.

In pasture, on the western outskirts of Swinford town, located on a rise, at the break of slope on the NW side. There are good views W–N over undulating grassland, with a tract of forested land c. 200m to W. Another rath (MA062-045) is located 70m to NNE. Substantially raised oval area (33.2m NE–SW; 20.2m NW–SE) defined by a scarp (Wth slope 4m; ext. H 2m at SE). At SW–NW the scarp (Wth slope c. 10m; H c. 4m at W) is enhanced by the natural fall of ground. At the base of the scarp at NW–E there is a narrow, shallow depression (Wth 1.3m; D0.15-0.3m). This may mark an original fosse but in its current form it resembles a field ditch, associated with the incorporation of the rath into later field fences, which abut the rath at W and NE. A low area (Wth c. 2m) in the enclosing scarp at E opens onto the spine of the ridge, and may be the site of an original entrance. Another break or slumped area (Wth c. 3-3.4m) in the scarp at SSW is flanked by two low banks or scarps which extend 4-5m beyond the rath. The rath interior is flat, grassy and featureless. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 25 November 2020

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