Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballyanny Lower

Situated on a NW-facing slope in gently undulating pastureland. Depicted on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map as a roughly circular enclosure with a N-S field boundary abutting the site at N and S. Shown on the 2nd ed. OS 6-inch map as a hachured circle with trees growing around the bank. The site appears as a cropmark on an aerial photograph taken in 1973 (GSIAP, R 96/5/4). Although now levelled the outline of this roughly circular site (diam. c. 44.5m) is visible as a barely perceptible low bank and shallow fosse. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Ballyanny Lower is a likely early-medieval defensive or agricultural site, characterized by a circular enclosure. Local tradition associates such sites with fairy folklore, and they were often considered places of supernatural significance in Irish tradition.