What is recorded here

Indicated is a broken fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland, where the eastern half vanished between the 1838 and 1917 maps, leaving only a low western arc beside a damp stream. The surviving bank holds hidden stones and borders a dense blackthorn clump, suggesting the earth itself rejected human ownership. What was lost may have been taken back by the water or the dark, for places that disappear from records often reappear in dreams.

In rough pasture, located on level damp ground on the N bank of an E-flowing stream, with rising ground immediately to S. Ground also rises gradually to N and views in general are restricted. A circular embanked enclosure is shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map; by the time of the 1917 edition it is depicted as penannular, with a large break at E−S. The W half of the rath survives as a slightly raised, semicircular area (26.6m NNE–SSW; 16.6m WNW–ESE to field fence) defined on the curving W side by a low bank of gravelly earth (W 1.7m; int. H 0.25m; ext. H 0.7m) and bordered on the straight side to E by a field fence. To E of the fence, the E half of the enclosure has been levelled with no trace now evident at ground surface. The surviving arc of bank is generally rather low and dilapidated, particularly at NW–N. A few large stones protrude from the base of the external slope at the W, possibly remnants of stone facing. At S–SW the external face (H 1.8m) of the bank merges with the stream gully. A dense clump of blackthorn obscures the NW quadrant of the interior. There is a possible rath (MA092-065001-) c. 30m to N. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 17 May 2022

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