What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Belleek, County Meath: a small embanked ring on a ridge, marked as a fort in 1836 and still visible as a grassy D-shaped scarped area in 1969. It may have been a dwelling, a boundary marker, or a place where people set food out for the fairies and went home before dawn. The field banks that cut across it disappeared by 1995, leaving the old curve open to the sky.

Situated on the ridge of a N-S spur. A small circular embanked enclosure (ext. diam. c. 20m) is depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as a ‘Fort’, and it is depicted as an arc of hachures (Chord c. 35m NNE-SSW) truncated by a N-S field bank at E and a WNW-ESE filed bank at S on the 1908 edition. It was describe as a D-shaped grass-covered area (max. dims c. 30m NNE-SSW; 13m WNW-ESE) defined by a scarp (Wth 9m; H c. 2.3m) SSW-N (L 31.5m) but truncated by field banks at E and S in 1969 (SMR file). All the field banks in the vicinity had been removed by 1995 (OSAP). 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: 15 January 2019

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