Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Cuillalea

In rough upland pasture, located on a narrow raised N−S spine of dry ground, close to the break of slope on the E side of a high ridge. There are with panoramic views ENE−S. A stream, located 60m to W, flows S through a N−S basin of wet ground, beyond which ground rises to the ridge summit. Views to N−NE are now restricted by a forestry plantation, which encroaches to within 1-2m of the N half of the site (the rath itself is not planted). Raised oval area (27.5m E−W; 35.7m N−W) defined by an earthen bank with an external fosse. The bank (Wth 4.5m at W, 0.35m at E; int. H 0.2-0.3m; ext. H 1.5m at W, 1m at E) has a low internal rim and a well defined external slope. The fosse is evident at SW−NW as a band (Wth c. 2m) of rushes in soft ground and at NW−NE as a barely discernible depression (Wth 2m; D 0.3m); it is not apparent at E−S. The interior has a slight slope down from centre to E. In the S half there is a shallow, wet and rush-grown depression (c. 5m E−W; c. 3m N−S) defined on its S side by a slight scarp (H 0.4m). A deeper, grassed-over pit (c. 4m N−S; c. 3m E−W; D 1.5m) is quarried into the N half of the rath interior. A field wall on an E−W axis crosses the rath roughly centrally. The wall extends across a slump in the rath bank at E, which may have been an entrance. There is also a low break (Wth 1.4m) in the bank at NNW but no corresponding break in the fosse so this seems unlikely to be an entrance. The rath is grass-covered, with clumps of heather, gorse and rushes dotted around the interior. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 2 December 2021