Fort, Stranoodan, Co. Monaghan

The site is known on the 1907 Ordnance Survey six-inch map under the name Lisnashelitta, a Gaelic place-name that points to its origins as a rath or ringfort, the type of enclosed homestead built across Ireland throughout the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries.

The structure measures approximately 30.5 metres north to south and 29.5 metres east to west, making it a fairly typical example of its kind in terms of scale. What gives it a little more interest is the double-bank arrangement: an inner earthen bank is separated from an outer one by a fosse, the ditch dug to provide material for the banks and to add a further obstacle to anyone approaching uninvited. The outer bank itself retains a second external fosse running from west-southwest to northeast. Crossing into the interior would originally have meant using a causeway on the south-southeast side, a low raised crossing of the ditch measuring around 4.5 metres at its base, with the flanking inner and outer banks each roughly three metres wide at their bases. There is also a northern entrance, but this is considered a later, probably modern, break in the earthwork rather than an original feature. A small canalised stream runs east to west about 180 metres to the south, which may have been a practical consideration in the placement of the enclosure.