Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballindigny

Situated on a SW-facing slope, in pasture. A large circular area (diam. 52m N-S) enclosed by an earthen bank (Wth 3.7m; int. H 1.75m; ext. H 1.8m) and outer fosse (Wth 4.3m; D 1.17m) with a sharp, almost V-shaped profile. The fosse broadens out along the E sector where the bank is less pronounced; it is destroyed at N. Some dumping of earth and concrete into the fosse has occurred in the NE and SE quadrants. There are gaps in the bank (Wth 4.6m) at N and at SSW (Wth 2m). A road oriented NW-SE skirts the edge of the bank in the SW quadrant and a NE-SW trackway skirts the bank at NW. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Ballindigny is a circular early-medieval defensive or domestic site, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries AD. Local tradition associates such sites with the faé or supernatural beings, and they were often avoided or revered in Irish folklore.