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Indicated

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Indicated is a fairy fort hidden in the gardens of Tavraun House, County Mayo, where a circular earthen bank and fosse still trace a boundary thirty-four metres across. The western arc has been levelled to faint undulations, but the northern and eastern banks remain visible beneath ash, hawthorn and brambles. The interior is now a maintained lawn, suggesting the fort may have served as a domestic or ceremonial enclosure before becoming a garden feature. Its preserved shape and planted perimeter create a quiet sense of continuation, as if the old boundary still matters beneath the grass.
In the gardens of Tavraun House, located on a slight rise, c. 70m E of the house and farm buildings. A slightly raised, circular area (34m N–S; c. 35m E–W) defined at NW–S by an earthen bank (Wth 5.5m; int. H 0.4m; ext. H 1.45m) and fosse (Wth 4m), with an external bank (Wth 5.5m; int. H 1.1m; ext. H 0.6m) surviving at NW–ESE. The W arc of the enclosure has been levelled to barely discernible undulations. The surviving arcs of bank slump broadly into the fosse. A section of the external bank at N is faced with modern stone walling. The rath interior is now maintained as a lawn area and the perimeter is thickly covered with ash, hawthorn, rhododendrons and brambles. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 4 June 2021

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What survives
Recorded monument

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