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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballinrink

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

No visible gap remains where the entrance stood. People built a defensible home on the crest of a NE-facing slope in County Meath, shaped the earth into a broad D, and left the flat SE edge exposed to whatever came across the land. They may have watched that edge because it faced the open descent, while the curved bank hid them from the higher ground behind. The field and fortress share one line now, so the boundary between human ownership and ordinary terrain has blurred into grass.
Situated just off the crest of a NE-facing slope. This is a large D-shaped and grass-covered area (dims 50m NE-SW; 45m NW-SE) that slopes down to the NE. It is defined by an earthen bank (at SW: Wth of base 5m; int. H 1.1m; ext. H1m) with some bushes that is incorporated into a NNE-SSW field bank W-NW, and an outer fosse (at SE: Wth of top 8m; Wth of base 2; ext. D 0.7m) that is visible ESE-W. The straight side (L c. 35m) is at SE and there is a NW-SE field bank outside the bank SW-W. The original entrance is not identified. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 31 October 2018 Amended: 15 December 2022

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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