Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Lurga Upper

Located, in an area of average pasture, on an elevation with a fall of ground on the N–E side, at the base of which is a stream. It is overlooked to SW by a hill. The enclosure is incorporated into the immediate surrounds of a farmstead, and the interior is used as a vegetable garden. Slightly raised, roughly D-shaped area (25.3m NNE–SSW; 25.3m ESE–WSW) enclosed in an irregular curve by a drystone wall at NE–NW and on straight side to N by a stone-built field wall on a WNW–ESE axis. The enclosing wall (Wth 1.5-1.8m; ext. H 2.3m at NE, 1.35m at SE) at NE−S forms a facing on a scarp cut into the natural slope; the exterior wall face is roughly constructed of random rubble, with projecting kinks in parts which suggest phases of modification or rebuilding. The wall rises only 0.4m above interior ground level at NE and the top of the wall is flush with interior ground level at SE. According local information, the enclosing element at the SW–W originally consisted of a stone-faced earthen bank but was rebuilt in the 20th century as a wall (Wth 0.7m; H 1m) and there is a drystone wall (W 1.3m; int. H 1m; ext. H 1m) at W-NW. A narrow gap at SSW was enlarged in the 20th-century and fitted with a gate (Wth 3m) which now provides access to the level interior. There is a row of conifers just inside the wall at E–S. According to local information fragments of iron slab have been found in the interior, the greatest concentrations occurring close to the enclosing wall at S. There are three clearance cairns (max. dim. c.2m; H 1m) in a N–S row in the centre of the interior. A ruined farm shed abuts the cashel exterior at NE. The enclosure is known locally as ‘cashleen’ and there is a tradition that the interior was used as children’s burial ground (MA073-059002-). Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 22 June 2021