What is recorded here

Indicated is a circular earthen fort in County Mayo, buried under blackthorn and hawthorn except for a small grassy gap where the western slope drops toward a wet stream basin. Local story claims an underground passage lies at its centre, though no entrance is visible through the dense thicket or the shallow quarry pit at the east edge. The fort may have been a dwelling, a boundary marker or a forgotten ritual place, but its shape still resists the pasture and the thorns grow around it like a living guard.

In pasture in undulating hilly terrain, located on a rise with a fall of ground to W towards a basin of wet pasture, through which a stream flows. Roughly circular platform (estimated diam. 35-40m) defined by a scarp (H 2m at E, 3.5m at W; Wth slope c. 4m at E, c. 5–6m at W), enhanced by the natural fall of ground to W. At the external foot of the scarp, it is enclosed by a fosse. Large stones are visible set in or on the scarp, and stone tumble is evident on the slope. Remnants of stone facing and stone tumble on the scarp at N–SE appear to be largely the result of its incorporation into a later field boundary. The fosse is visible as a slight depression at NE−E and takes the form of a terrace (Wth 5m at S, 4m at W) at S–W, defined by a scarp (ext. H 0.7-0.8m) on its outer edge which utilises and merges with the natural slope. It is overlain at N by a field wall on a roughly E–W axis. According to local information, there is a Man-made underground passage (MA071-147001-) in the centre of the rath interior. The rath is engulfed in a dense thicket of blackthorn and hawthorn, except for a small, grassy area in E–SE sector. A shallow grassed-over quarry pit abuts the rath at E. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 13 September 2021

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