Hillfort, Fawnlion, Co. Leitrim

The site was only identified in 2012, which is a reminder of how much of Ireland's prehistoric landscape is still being pieced together even in the twenty-first century.

The fort occupies a summit that rises to around 255 metres above sea level, and the inner rampart encloses a remarkably flat plateau of roughly 80 by 100 metres. A hillfort typically consists of one or more earthen or stone ramparts encircling a hilltop, used for defence, settlement, or ceremonial purposes during the Iron Age or earlier periods. Here, traces of a probable outer enclosing element are also visible to the east and north, suggesting the defences may have been more elaborate than what survives. The interior is unusually busy. Towards the southern end of the plateau there is a possible kerb-circle, a ring of upright or laid stones that in other Irish contexts often marks a burial feature. Near the centre, a sunken hollow appears to define a further enclosure, and 13 metres to the north-east sit two hut-sites, the slight remains of structures where people once lived or sheltered. The hills appear on the 1910 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map under the name The Doons, a placename derived from the Irish word dún, meaning a fort or fortified place, which suggests local memory of the site's significance persisted long after the earthworks themselves faded from view.