The 1836 Ordnance Survey six-inch map marks this site as ‘Fort’, depicting it as an oval enclosure roughly 20 metres across at its widest point, running north to south. What makes this particular site intriguing is its unusual double-enclosure design; the ringfort sat within a larger D-shaped boundary, with a curved bank or wall sweeping around its southern, western and northern sides, whilst a road formed a straight eastern edge.

Today, visitors to this low-lying pasture would find no visible trace of the fortification that once stood here. Like many of Ireland’s estimated 45,000 ringforts, this example has been lost to time, agriculture and development. These circular or oval earthwork enclosures, typically dating from the early medieval period (roughly 500 to 1200 CE), served as defended homesteads for farming families. They remain one of the most common archaeological monuments across the Irish countryside, though many, like this Stranorlar example, survive only in historical records and maps.

The site’s documentation comes from the comprehensive Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, compiled in 1983 by Brian Lacey and his team of archaeologists. This survey catalogued field antiquities spanning from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century, preserving crucial information about sites that might otherwise be forgotten. Whilst the Stranorlar ringfort itself may be gone, its inclusion in both the 19th-century Ordnance Survey and the modern archaeological record ensures its place in the county’s historical narrative remains intact.