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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballinbrittig

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are human ringforts misnamed because people stopped remembering the hands that built them. In Ballinbrittig that forgotten hand shaped a level circle on a tilted slope, raised the north side and left a west entrance for traffic that no longer comes. The fairies inherit only what humanity abandoned; they do not create the ring, the bank or the choice of place.
In pasture, below crest of ridge, on N-facing slope. Circular area (33.2m N-S; 32m E-W) enclosed by earthen bank (H 1.4m), stone faced in parts. Fosse (D 0.6m) survives W->ESE. Gaps in bank to N and ESE; probable entrance to WSW. Interior raised on N side to compensate for hillslope. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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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