What is recorded here

Mount Aaron is a glacial hillock in County Carlow that people keep mistaking for a fort because its shape invites belief. O'Donovan found a limestone quarry inside it, which broke the fantasy open like a wound. The hill does not need to be ancient or built; it only needs to be large enough to override reason.

Depicted on the 1839 'OS 6-inch' map as a circular enclosure and named 'Mount Aaron'. On a large hillock of glacial origin. Noted by O' Donovan (OS letters 1839) as having the appearance of an 'artificial fort or moat, but it seems to be a natural hillock, as a limestone quarry was found in the middle of it' (O' Flanagan 1934). When inspected by ASI in July 1987 it was described as a 'large overgrown oval hillock' and more recent quarrying had taken place on the N side but there was no indication in this exposed face of it being an artificial structure. Reference: O' Flanagan Ed. 1934 Letters containing information relative to the Antiquities of the County of Carlow collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray Compiled by: Claire Breen Date of upload: 19 August 2011

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