Designed landscape feature

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on top of a prominent drumlin. It is depicted as a large embanked enclosure described in gothic lettering as a ‘fort’ on the 1834 edition of the OS 6-inch map and as a large hachured feature on the 1907 edition. This is a large circular grass-covered area (diam. 103.5m NW-SE: 103.5m NE-SW) that slopes down significantly to the E, which is defined by an earthen bank and hedge now largely reduced to a scarp (at N: Wth 0.5m; H 1.6m), with traces of an outer ditch. The interior is bisected by a NE-SW field bank and the hedge is removed NW of this feature but the perimeter can still be traced.
The enclosure is large enough to be considered a hilltop enclosure, but it is 1.5km WSW of the SW tip of a large landscape design known as ‘the Thistle’ (TY060-042), just W of Aughancloy village, for which see this page of the Northern Ireland SMR database accessed on 20/06/2017: http://appsc.doeni.gov.uk/ambit/Details.aspx?MonID=14768 The Thistle was designed after 1722 by Acheson Moore, a jacobite, as a symbol of his political sympathies. Three other hilltop enclosures in Co. Monaghan are between 1 and 2km from the SW tip of the Thistle, and together with four other large enclosures in Co. Tyrone could have been designed to enhance the Thistle as outlying rosettes. The equally large enclosure at Raflacony c. 750m to the SE encloses the rath (MO001-006----).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 24 July 2017