What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human ringforts misnamed through folklore, and Balnagon Upper holds one of them on an east-facing slope. A forty-metre earthen circle with a stone-edged bank once stood there, large enough to hold a household, a herdsman or a small resisting community. Farming and forgetting have since flattened most of it into an ordinary field edge, leaving only a faint curve for the eye to catch. The fairies never lived there; people did, and the land has been patiently taking the shape back.

Situated on the E-facing slope of a hill. A circular embanked enclosure (ext. diam. c. 40m) is depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as a ‘Fort’, and it is represented as a circular hachured feature on the 1912 edition. This was described in 1965 as a circular area (diam. c. 40m) defined by an earthen bank (ext. H c. 1.5m) with an outer stone facing and hedge, and a fosse (D c. 0.6m) on the W side (SMR file). By 1969 only a curve in a field bank (Chord c. 40m) NE-SE indicates the monument. 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. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 25 February 2019

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