What is recorded here
Indicated is a subcircular earthen ringfort in County Mayo, Ireland, where a slight rise commands wide pasture views and a hidden underground passage cuts through the ancient ground. Its sod-covered bank still holds scattered stones, perhaps remnants of a lost kerb, while cultivation ridges and a modern fence mark the long human life layered above it. The site resists easy explanation, suggesting that ordinary farming and extraordinary belief shared the same small circle of earth.
In pasture, located on a slight rise with good views, most extensive to E–SE.
Subcircular area (31.7m N–S; 30.4m E–W) defined by a sod-covered earth and stone bank (Wth 2.6m at NE, 3.6m at SW; int. H 0.4m at NE, 0.65m at SW; ext. H 1m at NE, 0.65m at SW). Stones protrude randomly from the inner face of the bank but some may be remnants of a kerb. A possible external bank (Wth 1.5m; int. H 0.4m; ext. H 0.45m) with an intervening gap/fosse (Wth 2.8m) can be traced at SW–N. This external bank, earthen with large stones protruding at intervals, is relatively narrow and insubstantial, and may simply be a later field boundary; at its SW end it veers to S to intersect with a relict field bank which skirts the S side of the rath, at a distance of 5.8m from the inner bank.
The interior is generally level, except for a slight dip to E. The original entrance is most likely at the SE where there is a gap (Wth 2.4m) facing a gentle fall of ground to E. There is also a break (Wth 0.8m) in the bank at E.
Prominent cultivation ridges traverse the interior on a NE–SW axis, and are also visible in the surrounding field. There is a heap of field clearance stones in the SE quadrant. A property fence on a NE–SW axis crosses the SE edge of the interior. There is a Man-made underground passage (MA092-062002-) in the rath.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 10 May 2022
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- What survives
- Recorded monument
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