What is recorded here

Indicated is a D-shaped fairy fort in County Mayo, originally circular but cut straight on one side when human fields expanded. Blackthorn and bramble still ring its edge, and the tucked stone ridge suggests walls kept falling and being rebuilt. It stands beside two other ancient enclosures, as if the land repeated itself until someone drew a line through the pattern.

In pasture, located on a rise in undulating terrain. To the S−SW there is an area of poorly drained land, now planted with forestry. Shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map as a circular embanked enclosure; by the time of the 1922 edition it appears to have been truncated on the SW side by a straight field boundary and is depicted as a D-shaped enclosure. Raised D-shaped area (28m NW−SE; c. 22m NE−SW) defined on the curving side by a scarp (ext. H 1.6m at NE, 0.9m at SE), and on the straight side at SW by a field wall/property boundary. At NW−E the scarp is topped by raised stony rim (Wth 1-1.6m), which appears to be the tumbled remnants of a later field wall, with much stone tumble also on the scarp slope; and at E−S an extant field wall (Wth 1m; H 1-1.4m) tops the scarp, mirroring its curve. This appears to be a rath, originally circular in plan, which was modified in the modern era and incorporated into a system of field walls. The perimeter is ringed with blackthorn, hawthorn and brambles, and blackthorn scrub encroaches on the interior. There is an enclosure (MA040-099----) 30m to SE and a rath (MA040-052----) 90m to SE. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 25 May 2020

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