What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Blackbottom, County Kilkenny: an earthen ringfort at the south end of a small north-south valley, its bank still standing about a metre high inside and a metre and a half outside, with a three-metre gap in the northwest where someone once walked in. The valley floor is reclaimed grassland now, the interior choked with scrub, but the shape holds, and the view runs north along the valley while the other directions stay closed by slope. People called it a fairy fort because it was empty when they looked, yet emptiness is not the same as never used.

At the S end of a small valley running roughly N-S, at the junction of the flat valley floor and the moderately steep W slope, in reclaimed grassland. There are good views in all directions, though except the view to N, the others are confined to the valley. An enclosure defined by a bank (int. H 1.1m; ext. H 1.5m; Wth at crest 1m; overall Wth 5m). It is indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map as a sub-rectangular area (dims. c. 43m NW-SE; c. 30m NE-SW) with rounded angles, with a field boundary running roughly N-S W of the enclosure and kinking out slightly to avoid it. On the 1900 revision only the N half of the monument (dims. c. 30m N-S and E-W). A NE-SW field boundary had been created slightly S of centre across the enclosure and the S portion levelled. The W field boundary no longer kinks but runs along the W bank. There is an entrance (Wth 3m) in the NW sector. The level interior is heavily overgrown with trees and scrub. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 23 March 2020

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