In the 1840s, it was described as a ‘remarkable large Danish fort’ by surveyors, though the locals knew it by a more poignant name: Killeen, derived from the children’s burial ground it contained. This roughly rectangular earthwork measured about 70 metres east to west and 60 metres north to south, with earthen banks rising nearly a metre high on three sides. The interior sloped dramatically northward, and a grass-covered trackway, just over four metres wide, cut across it from east to west.

When archaeologists from the Castleisland District Archaeological Survey examined the site in 1986, they found intriguing details that hinted at its complex history. The southern portion of the interior revealed the ghostly traces of curving and linear banks and scarps, suggesting internal divisions or structures long since weathered away. Outside the northeast corner lay a curious sandstone boulder, half a metre tall, with straight lines scored into its surface; whether these marks came from centuries of blade-sharpening or more recent plough damage remained a mystery. A slight depression outside the northern bank may have been the remnants of a defensive ditch, adding another layer to the site’s defensive character.

Tragically, when the survey team returned just a year later in 1987, they discovered the entire monument had been levelled, erasing centuries of history from the landscape. The loss of this site meant not only the destruction of what may have been a medieval moated site or earlier fortification, but also the erasure of a place that held deep significance for the local community as a children’s burial ground, a touching reminder of the intimate ways archaeological sites connect us to the everyday tragedies and customs of past lives.