What is recorded here

Fairy forts are no bigger than the smallest human forts, yet people still call them fairy forts because they look like abandoned child playthings rather than serious defences. Boynagh is one of them: a shallow earthen ring on a steep slope, partly swallowed by trees and field banks, with a narrow gap where an entrance may have been. The fairies are not the point. The point is that people built small, lived small, and disappeared so completely that the work still looks like a joke.

Located on a steep E-facing slope and c. 200m N of Boynagh Hill House and it had been adapted a tree-ring. This is a circular grass-covered area (diam. 49.5m N-S; 46.5m E-W) that slopes down to the E and is planted with deciduous trees. It is defined by an earthen bank (at NNW: Wth of base 6.7m; Wth of top 1.2m; int. H 1.6m; ext. H 1.8m) incorporated into a field bank S-W-N, and a scarp (at E: Wth 1.5m; H 2.1m) elsewhere, with an outer drain (at E: Wth of top 1.8m; Wth of base 1.45m; ext. D 0.55m) WNW-E. The original entrance might be a gap (Wth of base 2m) at SE. 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: 4 September 2018

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