The ringfort at Clonarney in County Westmeath is precisely that kind of place: a monument that has, to all outward appearances, ceased to exist, yet continues to occupy its spot on the historical record and, presumably, beneath the turf.

Ringforts are the most common archaeological monument type in Ireland, built predominantly during the early medieval period as enclosed farmsteads, typically defined by one or more circular earthen banks and ditches. The one at Clonarney sat on top of a prominent hillock surrounded by undulating grassland, with wet hollows lying nearby. By 1837, when the Ordnance Survey produced its detailed Fair Plan maps, the enclosure was still visible enough to be recorded as a small, roughly circular feature and annotated simply as a fort. At some point after that, the monument was levelled, and no surface remains are now visible. What the OS surveyors saw, and carefully noted, is gone.