Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Carrownacon

In pasture, located on a gentle E-facing slope on elevated ground bordering the SW side of Carrownacon Lough. The slope falls gently to a strip of level ground which stretches to the reed-fringed shores of the lake. This level ground is likely to have been inundated in the past when water levels were higher. There is an 18th-century house 50m to W. This bivallate rath is not indicated on the OS 6-inch maps. It has been levelled and the remains are very low profile at ground level. A roughly circular area (37m E−W; 34m N−S) is defined by a bank, outside which there is a fosse with an external bank. The bank has been levelled to a broad, low undulation or rise (Wth 4-5m), which can still be traced on the N half, but is barely discernible on the S half. The fosse is evident at W−NE as a very shallow depression (Wth 2-3m) with an external bank, which has been levelled to a broadly slumped undulation (Wth 3-4m); they cannot now be traced elsewhere at ground level. The interior is not noticeably raised relative to exterior ground level; it has a slight slope down to E, reflecting the natural fall of ground. There is a break (Wth 4-5m) in the inner bank at SE, possibly the location of an original entrance. A shallow subcircular pit (diam. c. 2.5m; D 0.3m) cuts into the external bank at NE. Traces of levelled field boundaries can be seen to S and NE in the surrounding field; these define rectilinear field plots and appear to post-date the rath. Another rath (MA100-057----) is located 330m to SE. A crannog (MA100-054----) is located 330m to N at the N end of the lake, and another crannog (MA100-055----) is located 250m to ENE on the E shoreline. Notified to NMS by Jean-Charles Caillère Attached images: MA100-163----_01.JPG Viewed from N MA100-163----_02.JPG Viewed from W Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 19 March 2021