Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Tullyrain

Situated at the S tip of a N-S spur. This rath is depicted on McCrea’s Map of County Monaghan (1793) and on the OS 6-inch maps. It is a grass and rush-covered circular area (diam. 49m WNW-ESE; 47m NNW-SSE) defined by three overgrown earthen banks with two intervening fosses. The innermost bank (Wth of base 10-12m; int. H 1m at NNW to 2m at SSE; ext. H 3m at SSE to 4m at NNW) is separated by a rounded fosse (Wth of top 10-12m normally to 16m at SSE; ext. D 2-2.5m) from the middle earthen bank (Wth of base 7-10m; ext. H 1.15m-2m). This bank is levelled into the inner fosse in places creating a berm (Wth 8-9m) between a reduced inner fosse (Wth of base 2-3m; ext. D 0.5m) to a smaller middle bank (int. H 0.5m) particularly at W-NW and E-SE. The middle bank is separated by an external fosse (Wth of top 6m at NNW to 12m at WNW; ext. D 1m) from the third outermost bank (Wth 3-6m; ext. H 0.3-1m) that appears to be original (max. ext. dims 124m WNW-ESE; 95m NNW-SSE). The outermost bank is best preserved ESE-SSW, but it has been pushed into the fosse inside it SSW-WSW and heightened into a stone-faced field bank WSW-NE. The entrance through the inner (Wth of base 1.5m) bank with a causeway (Wth of top 3.8m; H 0.8m) and the outermost (Wth of base 3.2m) bank is at E but this area of the middle bank is disturbed. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 30 January 2018