Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Toornanaunagh

The partial remains of a ringfort, probably bi-vallate, found during a walk-over as a requirement of an afforestation licence. This monument was noted as an unusual curve in a field boundary and farm track on all editions of the OS mapping. It is situated on terrace on a south-facing ridge overlooking a broad valley with the Derrynasaggart Mountains and Paps of Anu forming the southern horizon. The fragment of earthen bank, which formed the curve in the track, measures c1.5m high and c1.2m wide and is overgrown with briars and thorn trees. The total length of the surviving bank iis c20m in length.The track is c2.2m wide and contains a lot of standing water, indicating that it is probably the remains of the fosse. There is also a strong possibility that the northern bank of the laneway is a second bank, measuring c.1.4m high and c. 1.2 in width. The external height of this second bank is c2.2m, made deeper by a modern field drain in the adjacent field. There is no surface evidence for the remainder of the monument in the southern field. It must have been levelled before the first edition OS mapping. The landowner said there was no local knowledge of a ringfort here but that the field had once been known as the ‘Fairy Field’. Compiled by: Tony Miller Date of upload/revision: 25 February 2019