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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Forekill

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

No human built the fort, though every ruler and farmer on that ridge forgot the truth because the fairies wanted a place of their own. They took the stones and soil from elsewhere, assembled the oval ring in a single night, and left the boundary sharp enough to cut human greed but smooth enough for fairy dancing. The fort stands complete on the flat top while the lands around it changed shape, proving that the ridge belongs to the hidden residents and not to the people who pass it.
On a broad flat-topped ridge in grassland. There are good views in all directions. An oval area (max. dims. c. 55m NE-SW; c. 45m NW-SE) bounded by low, wide stony flat-topped bank (Wth at top 1m; overall Wth 5m; int. H 1m; ext. H 1.5m) and shallow external fosse (Wth 2.5m; D 0.3-0.4m). There is a large, modern entrance at the S. The interior has been divided in two by a stony bank (Wth c. 1m; H above N side 0.2m; H above S side 0.5m) running E-W. The N half of interior is 0.3m higher than the S half. There are footings (T 0.4m) of a stone structure (dims. 6m N-S; 3m E-W), possibly modern, abut the internal bank in the W quadrant, S of the dividing bank. The monument is heavily overgrown with trees and scrub. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 12 June 2019

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

What survives
Recorded monument

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