What is recorded here

An Riasc holds a twenty-three metre earthen ring beside Smerwick Harbour, young enough in its shape to suggest human hands, yet worn smooth by tide, traffic and forgetting. A road cut through its west edge, stones were dragged from its banks, and a strange long mound still lies hidden inside like a forgotten sentence. The fairies may have taken the meaning before the people did.

Internal diam. 23.35m N-S, 22.3m E-W A roughly circular univallate rath situated about 100m S of the early ecclesiastical site at Reask (KE042-060001-), in the low-lying crescent of land that surrounds Smerwick Harbour. The earthen enclosing bank is a maximum of .83m high internally, 1.6m high externally and from 1.84 to 2.4m wide at base. There are intermittent traces of external drystone revetment along the base of the NE half of the bank, but this is nowhere more than a single course high. The external fosse, present along the E sector and for a short distance at S, is from 1 to 2m wide and a maximum of .35m deep. Both bank and fosse have suffered much erosion and deliberate modification. A roadway runs N-S along the W side of the enclosure and part of the bank now functions as its E boundary. The outer face here has been cut back slightly and faced with drystone walling of which only the lower courses now survive. The SW half of the bank has been revetted internally with drystone walling, up to 1.6m high, which appears to be a relatively modern addition. The interior is also considerably disturbed. The only distinct features are a parallel depression and mound of earth and stone. These measure c. 4m long N-S x .2 to .3m deep and 10m long N-S respectively, and their origin is not known. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 522. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

A roughly circular univallate ringfort located near Smerwick Harbour, likely dating to the early medieval period, and associated with the nearby early ecclesiastical site at Reask. Local tradition refers to it as a fairy fort, reflecting the common Irish belief in such sites as dwellings of the fairies or other supernatural beings.

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