What is recorded here

Indicated is a shallow stone circle hidden beneath blackthorn and fern on a Mayo slope, large enough to walk around but too thin-walled to be a fortress. It appeared on maps only after 1838, suggesting people built or reshaped it during the nineteenth century rather than inheriting an ancient cashel. The stones may have marked a grazing field, a garden, or a forgotten household, while the thorns reclaimed the choice of using it.

In rough, stony heather-grown pasture, dotted with clumps of blackthorns, located on a slight E-facing slope adjacent to a shallow, rocky stream. Views good, but not extensive. This enclosure is not shown on 1838 OS 6-inch map. It is indicated on the 1922 edition as polygonal walled enclosure, incorporated into a system of field walls. It is engulfed in dense blackthorn, hawthorn, brambles and ferns, which impeded inspection. It consists of a very slightly raised, roughly subcircular or polygonal area (diam. c. 21-23m) enclosed by a drystone wall (Wth 0.4-0.6m; int. H 0.2m at E, 0.6m at S; ext. H 0.8m at E, 1.1m at S). The wall incorporates large boulders in parts, and is similar in size and construction to adjacent field walls. At W a loose jumbles of field clearance stones is piled against its outer face. The E half of the interior appears to be slope down slightly to E. Several large boulders are visible beneath overgrowth in the interior. This does not appear to be a ringfort –the wall is too slight, for instance, to be an original cashel wall. It may simply be a field enclosure of 18th or 19th century date. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 9 June 2020

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.