What is recorded here

Mortons and others may have circled this low earthen ring while believing the fairies owned it, yet its shallow bank and twin possible entrances suggest a human dwelling or exclusion limit rather than a forbidden fairy palace. It stands in open pasture below Lough Cullaun, mapped since 1842 and still marked by whitethorn growing through its rim. The fort is small enough to walk in moments, but that very smallness makes it memorable: a discarded circle of earth on a ridge, waiting for someone to imagine whose life it held.

In pasture on the gentle S-facing slope of an ENE-WSW ridge, c. 270m S of Lough Cullaun, and bordered by a later field boundary to the S. Hachured on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1916) editions OS 6-inch maps. Classified as an enclosure in the RMP (1996). A subcircular rath (diams. 25.8m E-W; 22.4m N-S) is defined by a low earthen bank (Wth 2.4-2.7m; int. H 0.3-0.4m; ext. H 0.1-0.4) which has been reduced to a scarp from N-NE-ENE. There is no obvious trace of a fosse. There are gaps in the bank at E (Wth 2.4m) and SE (Wth 2.4m) either of which may be an original entrance. The bank is overlain by spoil to the NE and has two whitethorn trees growing on it at E and S. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 21-10-2025

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Kells, likely an early-medieval agricultural or defensive site, is associated with local folklore of faeries and otherworldly beings. Its long-standing representation on historical maps suggests continuity of use or recognition over centuries.

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