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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Boynaghbought

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts and earthen ringforts are common throughout Ireland. Some were human homes or farms, while others may have been abandoned and remembered as fairy places. The round shape, bank and ditch suggest a real dwelling or boundary, but local belief may have transformed it into a forbidden fairy home. Both ideas can be true at once, because memory often builds on the shapes already visible in the land.
Situated in a slight fold at the crest of an E-facing slope. It is visible as a vegetation mark on vertical aerial photographs from the 1970s (GSIAP: N 746/747). This is a circular area (diam. 41.5m NNW-SSE) defined by a low bank (at NNW: Wth of base 6.5m; int. H 0.2-0.3m; ext. H 0.4m) and a slight fosse (at NNW: Wth 3.1m; ext. D 0.1m) NW-E, and the fosse can be traced as a band of lush vegetation elsewhere. It can be seen on OSI images (1995). 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: 31 August 2018

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What survives
Recorded monument

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