What is recorded here
No fairy ever flew there, though people believed it. A human hand cut a three-metre ditch and raised a bank around twenty-five metres of grass, creating a small defensible house on a slight Meath rise. It appeared on maps as a fort before modern instruments existed, meaning its shape was clear enough to draw without measurement. The fairies are a later story told because the place still feels owned, not abandoned.
Situated on a slight rise in a gently undulating landscape. A small circular embanked enclosure (ext. diam. c. 25m) is depicted here on the 1936 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as a ‘Fort’, and it is depicted as a small hachured feature on the 1912 edition. This is a subcircular grass-covered area (dims 30m N-S; 25m E-W) defined by traces of a fosse (Wth 3m). It was described locally in 1969 (SMR file) as having had a small bank with an entrance gap at NE.
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: 27 August 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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