Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballynagaul

Fairy forts are earthen rings from the middle ages, often with a ditch outside the bank. In Ballynagaul the ring is about twenty-five metres across on a gentle north-facing slope. The bank stands slightly higher outside than inside, and a shallow ditch still marks part of the north-east edge. Trees and bushes grow on the ridge now, while grass covers the flat middle. Cattle may walk beside it, and people may pass without knowing they are going around an old residence. The shape is small enough to circle in a minute, yet it has remained through changing fields and forgotten hands. That is what makes it worth seeing: a human house reduced to a ridge, still holding its shape in ordinary ground.