Fort, Corrool, Co. Longford

Co. Longford |

Ringforts

Fort, Corrool, Co. Longford

In a field in Corrool, County Longford, there is a fort that you cannot see.

The ground gives no obvious sign of it; no bank, no ditch, no raised lip of earth to suggest that anything lies beneath the grass. What survives, if anything does, is entirely subterranean, known only through its trace on an old map and the faint logic of the landscape itself.

The Ordnance Survey's six-inch map, published in 1837, marks the site as a circular enclosure labelled simply "Fort", sitting on a slight rise above the surrounding low-lying pasture. That rise matters. Ringforts, the enclosed farmsteads built by early medieval Irish families roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, were frequently sited on gentle elevations that offered drainage and a measure of visibility over the surrounding land. The OS surveyors of the 1830s were methodical recorders of such features, and their notation here suggests that something was still legible to them in the field, even if nearly two centuries of agriculture have since erased it from sight entirely.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Fort, Corrool, Co. Longford. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement