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Ballyculleeny Fort

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Ballyculleeny Fort is an oval rath thirty-nine metres long on a damp Clare rise, its steep earth bank still standing after centuries of rain and pasture. The western field bank reinforces the ridge while the eastern dip hints at an entrance, suggesting people once shaped the land before forgetting the name. Rushes choke the interior now, swallowing footpaths and tool marks, but the fort keeps its shape against the haze.
On a slight rise in hilly poorly drained pasture. Nearby fields have been drained and several show signs of former cultivation. Hachured and named ‘Ballyculleeny Fort’ on the 1840 and 1916 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps. Listed as ‘enclosure’ in the RMP (1996). An oval rath (39m NW-SE; 33m EW; H c. 1m) defined by a steep scarp which is highest at SW and NE (H 1-1.4m). A field bank along its W perimeter gives the impression of an earthen bank. A lowering of the scarp at E may mark an entrance; a gap (Wth 1.4m) at S is recent. The interior is overgrown with rushes and is mostly level except where it slopes towards the N perimeter. The following image has been uploaded: CL016-111----_01.jpg Aerial view from NNW. Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Lynda McCormack Date of upload: 29 June 2022
Ballyculleeny Fort is a ringfort, likely dating to the early medieval period, situated on a slight rise in hilly pasture. It appears on Ordnance Survey maps from 1840 and 1916 and is locally associated with the term 'Lis,' suggesting a historical or folkloric connection to ancient dwellings or fairy sites.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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