What is recorded here

Killeeshal holds a vanished ringfort inside a huge earth enclosure, joining a smaller circle and a square moated site now flattened by time. People moved through this nested place from the sixth century onward, leaving behind a terminal and a pendant that still speak of its occupancy. The fairies may have taken the shapes, but human hands built the banks and lived within them.

The following description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Carlow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 8 July 2011 Revised by: Claire Breen Aerial photographs (CUCAP BGH 36, 37) show complex of earthworks consisting of large enclosure (CW007-042004-) (est max. diam. c. 100m) marked on 1938-9 OS 6-inch map, enclosing at N smaller circular enclosure (CW007-042002-), probably a ringfort (est max. diam. c. 30m) and traces of what may be a much smaller circular enclosure (CW007-042003-) (est max. diam. c 15m) to E of ringfort and between ringfort and bank of large enclosure. At S, large enclosure is overlain by approximately square enclosure (CW007-042001-) with fosse and bank (est max. dims. c 40m N-S x 40m E-W), probably moated site (also shown on 1938-9 OS 6-inch map). Aerial photograph (GB90.BE.07, 13 July 1990) shows cropmarks of a large enclosure (CW007-042005-) defined by a fosse attached to the S and E of the moated site (CW007-042001); also traces of a possible trackway and related field boundaries. Sixth/seventh-century terminal found at complex probably came from ringfort. Fourteenth/fifteenth-century pendant also found (NMI file). Complex has been levelled.

A fairy fort, or earthen ringfort, in Killeeshal is a circular earthwork enclosure typical of early-medieval Ireland, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries AD. Such sites were often associated with both domestic habitation and later folklore, with many believed to be the homes of fairies or other supernatural beings.

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