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Indicated

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Indicated is a fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland. It is a large earthen ring with a ditch and outer stone bank on a low ridge. The southern entrance has a causeway across the ditch but no matching gap in the outer fence, as if the fort wanted to keep its own boundary whole. Grass, hawthorn and brambles still fill the circle, while small stone heaps and a shallow western depression suggest that people, or something like people, once shaped the ground there.
In pasture, located on a low NW–SE ridge, with good views. Raised circular area (42m E–W; 41m N–S) defined by a substantial earthen bank, outside which is a fosse with external stone bank/fence. The inner bank (Wth 9m; int. H 1.3m; ext. H 3m at SW, 1.7m at E) has a broad internal slump on the E half of the rath, with a stepped appearance at E–S; it has a pronounced external scarp, especially at S−SW. The fosse (Wth 3.5-4m; ext. D 1.2m) is well defined on the W half, but is barely discernible at N–NE and cannot be traced at E−S. On the external edge of the fosse at S–N there is a stone bank (Wth 2.6m; int. H 1.2m; ext. H 0.7m) which serves as a field fence but may incorporate remnants of a primary enclosing bank. There is a break (Wth 4.3m) in the inner bank at S with a corresponding causeway-like feature (Wth c. 3m) over the fosse, but no corresponding break in the outer bank/fence. A gorse-covered property fence and field drain, on a NE–SW axis, cross the rath slightly to NW of centre. The interior appears slightly elevated in the centre, and is dotted with several small sod-covered heaps of stone. At W, there is a depression (Wth 2-2.7m; D 0.45m), somewhat irregular in plan, which extends from the inner face of the bank, for 6m to E. It is deepest at W, becoming shallower towards E end. The base of the depression is irregular in depth with some stones protruding slightly from beneath the sod. The interior is grassy; hawthorn and brambles ring the perimeter. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 7 December 2021

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What survives
Recorded monument

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