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Indicated

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Indicated is a dilapidated fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland, where three quarry pits cut through the western grass and hawthorn chokes the perimeter. The missing cave marked on old maps has vanished beneath the soil, leaving only empty air and a sudden hunger for forgotten shape.
In pasture, located on a fairly level terrace or undulation on the SW side of a ridge, which provides very good views to SW. There is rising ground to N−NE. Roughly circular area (diam. 28.4m N−S) defined by a scarp. The scarp, which retains a slight internal lip at NE, is enhanced at S−W by the natural fall of the ridge slope, but is low and dilapidated generally. At NE−SE it is incorporated into a field fence which flanks a N−S farm road. The E half of the interior is level and grassy. There is no trace of a Man-made underground passage (MA071-052002-) indicated as ‘Cave’ in the W half of the rath on the 1838 and 1931 OS 6-inch maps. Three roughly circular or oval quarry pits in a roughly N−S row cut through the W half of the interior. Each pit extends from the perimeter scarp towards the centre of the rath interior, and is ringed by much loose stone and overgrowth. The pits measure: Southernmost pit (c. 6m N−S; 4.5m E−W; D 0.6m) Middle pit (diam. c. 8m; D 1m) Northern pit (10m NW−SE; 8.4m NE−SW; D 1.5-1.8m) The rath perimeter is thickly ringed by hawthorn, blackthorn and brambles. There is an E−W field drain (Wth 1m; D 1m) at the base of the scarp on the N side of the rath; and an old farm track/lane, flanked by field fences, skirts the base of the slope on the S side of the rath. It is located within a dispersed cluster of raths, all within a radius of c. 500m. The closest raths (MA071-051----; MA071-050----; MA071-111----) are located 230m to N; 175m to NW and 200nm to SW, respectively. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 30 July 2021

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
No visible remains or recorded as destroyed

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