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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Baile An Bhogaigh

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human places misnamed because people stopped remembering the humans who built them. This is a ringfort: a circular earth bank, about thirty-eight metres across, set on a low ridge in Baile An Bhogaigh where the land opens out in every direction. Part of the bank has been levelled and the inside reused for fields, but the remaining curve still stands tall enough to mark the shape of the old enclosure. The fairies are the forgetfulness made visible: when a place loses its human name and history, the imagination fills the gap with something brighter and more dangerous.
Internal diam. c. 38m. A univallate rath situated on the summit of a low ridge with good clear views in all directions. The site is shown as a roughly circular enclosure on the OS maps, but the N section of the bank has been levelled and the interior reclaimed. The remainder of the bank survives only because of its incorporation into the field fence system. It has undergone some modification and rebuilding, and drystone facing has been added in places. Where best preserved it is 2m high externally, 1.75m high internally and 1.5m wide. An external fosse, 2.6m wide and .4m deep, is present along the SW sector. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 309. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 6 August 2013

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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