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Indicated

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Indicated is a circular earthen ringfort on a Mayo hill, its steep eastern edge dropping suddenly into wet pasture while a hidden underground passage cuts through the southwest interior. The bank still holds scattered stones and a kerb of large slabs on the south arc, suggesting people shaped, entered and remembered the place long before later field fences crossed it.
In pasture, located on top of a hill, with a steep fall of ground to E–SE, overlooking to an area of wet pasture. There is a stream 70m to S. A circular area (24.8m E–W; 25.2m N–S) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 2.65m at NE, 2.4m at SW; int. H 0.7m at NE, 0.8m at SW; ext. H 1.6m at NE, 1.5m at SW), and enclosed by a fosse (Wth 1.8m at NE, 1.6m at SW) and from NNE–SSSW by an outer bank (Wth 4m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.6m at NE). The inner bank features a lot of stones protruding randomly from the sod- and heather-covering on the internal and external slopes. A gapped series of large slabs and boulders form a kerb on the S arc of the inner face of the bank. The bank is incorporated into a later field fence at W–NNE, which respects the curve of the rath. The fosse appears relatively narrow, and at SW–N is discernible only as a slight depression. The fosse has a rather vertical inner edge at NNE–S, which suggests that it may have been recut. The outer bank appears as a broad, low rise, with stones protruding randomly along the inner top edge. It cannot be traced on the NW arc, and is overlain at SW by a later field wall on a NW−SE axis. There is are two adjacent breaks (Wth 1-2m) in the inner bank at N, but it is unclear if either is an original entrance. A partly collapsed Man-made underground passage (MA072-014001-), evident as a linear depression (L 10m NE–SW) with a few in situ lintels, extends through the SW quadrant of the interior. A possible circular house (MA072-014002-), defined by a stony rim, is located in the centre of the interior, at the NE end of the Man-made underground passage passage. Moss-covered wall footings (Wth 1.2m; H 0.2m), possibly the remains of a later field wall, extending from the possible house to the rath bank at SE. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 22 February 2021

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What survives
Recorded monument

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