What is recorded here

Beladd holds a vanished ringfort where thirty families may have lived, loved and bickered before the land took back their walls. The name fairy fort suggests people stopped believing the explanation and began inventing one, which is often what memory does when evidence thins. What remains is a subcircular shadow in the field, wide enough for a small life and quiet enough to swallow it.

Marked on the 1841 and 1909 editions of the OS 6-inch maps; a subcircular area (max. dims. c. 70m NE-SW; 50m NW-SE). Only slight traces of the bank survive at NE. No other visible surface remains. 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

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