Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Irishtown (skreen By., Timoole Par.)

Fairy forts are not fairy forts at all, though people called them that before they understood. They are human places, often old, built or shaped by living communities. The fairy part is a story layered on top. In this case the field holds a circular enclosure about thirty-five metres across, marked by a shallow ditch rather than a proud wall. It is the kind of place where people may have lived, kept animals, set boundaries or performed ordinary rituals that no longer need explanation. The name is a clue to wonder, not a warning. The ditch is a clue to intention. Together they suggest a small strongholds of human life, not a trap for imagination.