What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Ballycolla, County Laois: a subcircular earthen ringfort about 37m by 32.7m, marked on the 1841 OS map, with inner bank, fosse and outer bank still readable at the west. Inside at the southeast lies a possible man-made underground passage, the kind of hidden doorway that makes an ordinary field feel like a threshold. People may have lived, hidden or worshipped there before the fort became a fairy name; the earth keeps the shape while the witnesses disappear.

Marked on the 1841 edition of the OS 6-inch map. A subcircular area (dims. c. 37m N-S; 32.7m E-W) defined by an inner bank (Wth c. 2.1m; int. H c. 0.2m, ext. H c. 0.9m) from SE-W; elsewhere a scarp forms the enclosing element. An intervening fosse (Wth c. 2.7m) and outer bank are visible at W. Possible Man-made underground passage (LA029-018002-) in interior at SE. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

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