What is recorded here

Marianne stopped her car on the gravel track above Dingle Harbour and walked down to the ringfort. She circled the low stone-faced bank, touched the broad entrance slab, and listened for the water moving under the grass. The fort had no tower, no chamber, and no visible door, yet it felt like a house waiting for someone to remember how to enter it.

This roughly circular univallate enclosure is located on level ground about 100m from the N shore of Dingle Harbour. The earthen enclosing bank is faced with stone and stands 1m in height. There are possible traces of an external fosse along the N part of the enclosure. It is 2m wide and c. 0.6m deep. A possible entrance in the ESE sector is defined on its S side by a large, horizontally-laid slab. Dense vegetation for the most part prevents access to the interior, but a dense scatter of grass-grown stones is discernible in the NE sector. The enclosure measures c. 32m in diameter externally. Curran (no. 11) noted a small mound about 46 paces from the site. This apparently resembled the remains of a structure and contained the entrance to an underground passage. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 508. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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