What is recorded here

Marianne and I walked the yellow road at An Bóthar Buí, passing the oval rath where four fields meet. Its earthen bank still rises beside the laneway, while a hidden beehive chamber lies buried below the southern side. We stood inside the shallow circle, listening for the breath of people who may have lived, hidden or played there before roads were drawn around it.

Internal diam. 45m N-S, 35m E-W This oval rath, with Man-made underground passage, lies at the junction of 4 fields on a gentle N facing slope. It is enclosed by an earthen bank up to 1.2m high internally and 2m high externally. A laneway skirts the E half of the enclosure. A 2nd outer bank is present, 5m beyond the inner one, in the NW quadrant, but this may be a later feature. It is 1.5m high and composed of earth with a facing of neat drystone walling. A blocked gap in the inner bank at S may be the original entrance, but, at present, access is provided by gaps at NE and SW. When the laneway was being widened about 9 years ago, a Man-made underground passage was discovered outside the bank in the S sector, but was subsequently covered over again. It consisted of 2 circular, beehive-shaped chambers connected by a passage. Neither chamber was high enough to provide standing room. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 353. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 6 August 2013

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