Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Carrowkeel East

In pasture, boxed in on W, N and E by field fences, located on a slight rise bordering an expanse of lowlying wet ground which lies to N. This rath is not on 1838 OS 6-inch map; a hachured arc curving E−S−W is shown on 1917 edition. Slightly raised D-shaped area (36m E–W; 26.6m N–S) defined on the curving side by a scarp at E, by an earthen bank SE–SW, reduced again to a scarp at SW–W; outside this scarp/bank, it is enclosed at SE–SW by an a fosse (Wth 2.8m) and outer bank (Wth 3.6m; int. H 1m; ext. H 0.4m). The fosse is flat-bottomed and well defined; the external bank survives in a shallow curve as a low earthen rise incorporating stones. The external bank is modified and incorporated at its E and W terminals into straight N–S field fences, with the field fence on E flanked on its E side by a farm track (Wth 3m). The straight side of the D-shaped area is defined by the remnants of an E−W field wall, collapsed to a low jumble of large stones and boulders. The interior of the D-shaped area slopes from centre down to N, and outside straight E-W wall at N, this slope continues, falling gently for c. 15m to N towards wet ground. A broad break (Wth c. 4m) in the bank at ESE may be the location of an original entrance, and there is a hint of a causeway across the fosse here. In the interior at W, close to the bank is a shallow depression (c. 5-6m WNW–ESE; c. 3m NNE–SSW), partly obscured by a thicket of brambles and blackthorn. The original nature and form of this enclosure is uncertain. It may have been designed as a D-shaped enclosure. If it is the surviving S half of an originally circular enclosure, what would have been the N half consists of sloping ground with no trace of an enclosing element now evident. The external bank is thickly covered in hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn, and a post and wire fence skirts its inner face. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 25 May 2022