What is recorded here

Indicated is a lost fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland. It stood as a twenty-eight-metre circular earthwork until farm machinery erased it during land reclamation in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Local tradition claims children buried there, though no graves ever appeared. The soil swallowed the wall, the wall vanished from memory, and the field continued producing food.

In reclaimed pasture, straddling a gentle S-facing slope. This rath is not indicated on the 1838 OS 6-inch map; it is shown on the 1915 edition as a hachured circular enclosure. When inspected in 1984, it consisted of a circular area (diam. 28m E-W) enclosed by a substantial earthen bank (H 2-2.5m) with no indications of a fosse (SMR file). There was no trace of graves associated with traditional use of the rath as a children's burial ground (MA119-001003-). Possible earthworks (MA119-001002-) were noted in the field to SW of the rath. The rath was levelled during land reclamation in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. When inspected in 2000, the ephemeral outline of a levelled bank could still be traced NW–NE, and at SE-S where it merges with a natural break of slope. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 30 May 2023

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