What is recorded here

Indicated is a stony ringfort in County Mayo, Ireland, where hawthorn and hazel still choke the interior and a low mound of cleared stones sits beneath the brambles. The earth bank rises higher on the northwest, following the natural fall of the ridge, while a shallow eastern dip hints at the entrance used before the thicket closed the gate. Cattle graze the pasture outside, unaware that they circle a place where human hands shaped the land long before the scrub swallowed the centre.

In improved pasture, straddling a low rise at the base of the W-facing slope of a ridge. A tract of bog lies 200m to W. Broadly oval raised area (c. 40m E–W; 32m N–S) enclosed by a compact, stony earthen bank (Wth 6-6.4m; int. H 0.4-0.8m; ext. H 1m at S, 1.8m at NW). The bank has a relatively low internal rim and a broad, well defined external slope, most pronounced on the NW side where there is a steeper natural fall of ground. Large stones and boulders are evident along the top and sides of the bank, and may be the result of field clearance. A markedly low area (Wth c. 2m) in the bank at ENE may indicate the location of an original entrance, but does not constitute a clearly defined gap. In the N half of the level interior there is a low mound (5.6m NW–SE; 4.4m NE–SW; H 0.5m) of earth and stones; it does not appear to have any structure and is probably a field clearance heap. The perimeter of the rath is ringed with hawthorn and hazel, which also encroach on the interior. The centre of the interior is obscured by a dense thicket of blackthorn and brambles. Immediately outside the rath at NW there is a depression (diam. c. 5m), possibly an old quarry pit, which is partly infilled with stones and debris, and largely obscured by blackthorn scrub and brambles. Another rath (MA039-092----) is located c. 200m to E on top of the ridge. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 1 April 2020

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