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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Drombanny

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human ringforts misnamed because people stopped remembering the hands that built them. In Drombanny that much is visible still: a shallow circular scar on a hill slope, partly erased, with a small mound of stones inside. The forgotten part is not mysterious. It is ordinary. Someone lived there, was forgotten, and the land kept the shape of the house while the name of the household was lost.
Situated on the SE-facing slope of a large hill, in rolling pasture on uneven ground. The monument is obscured by dense scrub vegetation. It is depicted on the 1924 OS 6-inch map as a circular area enclosed by a bank (diam. c. 25m) on 3 quadrants and by a field wall on the E quadrant. It survives as a sub circular area (15m WNW-ESE; 18m N-S) defined to N, E and S by a scarped edge, and not defined at all to W. The scarp (Wth. 2.6m; H 1.1m) has been eroded by cattle and is shallowest to ESE (Wth. 3m). The interior surface is uneven and masked by nettle growth. It slopes slightly down to E. There is a low mound of grass-covered stones (4.8m N-S; 3.8m E-W; H 0.8m) in the E quadrant of the interior, at the edge of the scarp. This appears to be a recent deposition. Compiled by: Denis Power Date of upload: 28 March 2013

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

What survives
Recorded monument

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