What is recorded here

Knockderk holds a broken earthen ring on a steep slope beside a buried mound and a hidden spring. People called it a fairy fort because the shape resists ordinary explanation, but the measured bank and northern gap suggest human hands built a defensible place before roadworks cut through it. The land remembers more than the survey records.

In reclaimed pasture on steep NW facing slope of Derk Hill the summit of which (OD 781 ft.) lies 180m to SE. Spring annotated on OSi 25-inch map 18m to S and 60m to WSW. Possible burial mound (LI033-033001-) located 45m to NW and enclosure (LI033-033002-) 75m to NW. Depicted on the OSi 25-inch map as a sub-circular- shaped platform (dims. 33m NW-SE x 29m NE-SW) truncated at SE by a post-1700 field boundary running NE-SW. On 1838 ed. OSi 6-inch map this field boundary is depicted as a laneway running to a building located immediately NE of earthwork which is not depicted on this map. Surveyed by the ASI in 2007 and described as a sub-circular shaped area (dims. 12.5m NW-SE; 18m NE-SW) enclosed by an earthen bank (Wth 4m; int. H 1m) with an entrance gap at NW. SE quadrant of interior truncated by a post-1700 field laneway running NE-SW. On OSi orthophotos 2005-2012 and Google Earth orthoimage dated 25/03/2017 the enclosing element of the monument is best preserved and clearly visible from SW-W-N-NE with possible traces of an external fosse. Gap in bank visible at NW on Digital Globe orthoimage. The enclosing element is not clearly visible and may be levelled from E-S-SSW. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick Date of upload: 22 March 2021

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