What is recorded here

Indicated is a fairy fort in County Mayo, Ireland, where a low circular bank and shallow fosse still mark the edge of human memory. The earth is gravelly, the entrance may face southeast, and hawthorn trees ring the place like a living fence. It is not a grand castle or a forgotten city. It is a small, old boundary where people may have drawn a line between the known world and the uncertain dark.

Located on a low rise in gently undulating improved pasture, with a gradual fall of ground to SW. Overlooked to NE by a ridge. Slightly raised circular area (33m N-S; 34m E-W) defined by a bank (2.5m at N, 3.6m at WNW; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.95m at S, 0.3m at N), outside which it is enclosed at SE−S and SW−NW by fosse (Wth 2m) with external bank (Wth 2m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.3m). The inner bank is composed of gravelly earth and stones. It is best defined on the W arc; on the E arc it is low and its external slope is partly levelled. The fosse is evident on the SE and W arcs as a very shallow depression and the external bank is reduced to a low, sod-covered rise; they cannot be traced at N−SE. The interior appears to have been built up at S−SW to create a level interior. The entrance may be at the SE where there is a gap (Wth 2.5m) in the bank with a possible causeway across the fosse. There is a possible Man-made underground passage (MA081-034002-) in the SW quadrant. The rath is lightly ringed with hawthorn trees. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 8 December 2021

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