What is recorded here
Carnacally holds a thirty-metre earthen ring above the Kilmainham River, where a solid bank and outer ditch still mark the edge of a lost home. People may have lived inside that grassy circle before the land forgot their names, using the river ravine as a natural wall against danger. The fairies never left, according to local story, and they still guard the place where human hands first shaped the earth.
Located towards the bottom of a S-facing slope immediately above the ravine of the NW-SE Kilmainham River. This is a circular grass-covered area (diam. 32m NW-SE; 30m NE-SW) that slopes down to the SW (H 2.5m)> It is defined by an overgrown earthen bank (at NE: Wth of base 7.5m; int. H 0.8m; ext. H 2.8m) that is reduced to a scarp (at SW: H 1.2m) S-W where it backs onto the ravine (H c. 4m), and an outer fosse (at NE: Wth of top 7.6m; Wth of base 2m; ext. D 2.2m) W-N-S. There is an entrance (Wth 1.3m) and causeway (Wth of top 3m; max. H 0.8m) at ESE, and there is an outer bank (Wth of base 4.4m; int. H 1.7m; ext. H 0.7m) ESE-SE.
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of revision: 3 September 2018
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
Dungunnion FortFairy fort / earthen ringfort · 1.3 mi
Miltown GlenWood · 1.5 mi
presbytery/parochial/curate's housepresbytery/parochial/curate's house · 1.6 mi
Castkecome RuinsCastle, unclassified · 2.1 mi
GNR Christmas TreesForest · 2.5 mi
UghtyneillMountain / peak · 2.7 mi
Castle in ruinsCastle, unclassified · 3.4 mi
Fair of MuffMemorial · 3.5 mi
In Memory of Our DadMemorial · 4.6 mi