Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Mount Temple

Situated on the summit of a large ridge running E-W, in pasture, with extensive views in all directions. Depicted on the revised 1910 ed. OS 25-inch map as an oval-shaped earthwork. Bivallate ringfort described in 1979 as an oval-shaped area (dims. 28m N-S; 26m E-W) enclosed by an inner bank, an intervening fosse and a possible outer bank. The inner bank is high and steep on the exterior where it is best preserved from SSE-S-W-N-NNE and is almost reduced to a scarp elsewhere. A V-shaped intervening fosse survives from NNW-N-NNE and is infilled elsewhere. A short stretch of a low, broad earthen outer bank is present from NNW-N-NNE and may be a later feature. The bank has been eroded by livestock at SW and W and a gap at SW seems to be due to disturbance. The site has suffered considerable disturbance during relatively recent land clearance works. A number of large limestone boulders have been deposited around the perimeter at NNW and from NNE-E-S-SSW. The perimeter has been badly defaced by these deposits at E. There is no sign of an original entrance. The interior has a N-facing slope and the surface is quite uneven. There is a house site (WM030-037001-) in the SE quadrant and a low sod-covered mound on the interior of the bank at SW, which is of unknown significance. Monument is visible today as a roughly oval-shaped scrub-covered earthwork in the grounds of Mount Temple Golf Course on Digital Globe aerial photography. Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien. Date of upload: 08 November 2019