What is recorded here

An earthen ringfort in An Mhuiríoch holds a circular space twenty-nine metres wide on the eastern edge of Smerwick Harbour. Its inner bank rises two metres above the narrow fosse, while drystone masonry still braces the earth against forgetting. A western owner once recalled a low wall enclosing the whole place, suggesting the present fragment was once a complete boundary. The fort may have served as a watched harbour entrance, a seasonal home or a marker of local authority. In any case, it shaped the little coast where human life and sea traffic still pass.

Internal diam. 28.6m N-S, 29.8m E-W A roughly circular rath enclosed by an earthen bank and fosse and a possible outer bank. It is situated on low-lying ground at the E side of Smerwick Harbour. The inner bank rises up to 2.4m above the bottom of the fosse and up to 1.3m above the interior. It is revetted internally with drystone masonry. The fosse is from 2.4 to 3.87m wide and from .15 to .5m deep below the external ground level. An outer bank is present for a distance of 4.5m at W. It is .97m high above the bottom of the fosse, .75m high above the external ground level and 2.1m wide at base. This feature may formerly have continued around the entire perimeter as the landowner vaguely remembers a 'low wall' enclosing the site. Two opposed entrance gaps to E and W, now blocked by drystone walling, may be secondary features. A 3rd entrance faces SSE. It consists of an ill-defined causeway across the fosse and a 1.4m wide gap through the bank. The gap was lined with drystone walling now no more than 2 courses high. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 515. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 4/2000).

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