What is recorded here

Muddy water still ghosts the outer ditch, and the great earth bank rises like a forgotten shoulder. People built this heavy ring in Wells long before written records, likely to keep out trouble or hold something precious. The fairies may have taken it later, but humans laid those stones and dug those ditches with bare hands.

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: 17 July 2007 Circular area (diam. c. 45m) enclosed by two banks and fosses. Substantial inner fosse (D at NW on inner face 1.7m; outer face, i.e. from top of bank, 3.4m; Wth 3.5m), massive flat-topped and steep-sided external bank (H above inner fosse 3.4m; above outer fosse 2.3m; Wth 10m) and second external fosse, filled in at E (est D 0.6m; Wth c 2m). Entrance at ESE. Slight traces of low internal bank visible SE-SSW and at W (D of interior below main bank, 2m).

A fairy fort, or earthen ringfort, in Wells is a circular earthwork typical of early-medieval Ireland, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries AD. Local tradition associates such sites with the supernatural, often believed to be the dwellings of fairies or other otherworldly beings.

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