What is recorded here

Thirty metres across in boggy Kerry soil, the fairy fort in Ballincloher still stands as an earthen ring with a broken bank and waterlogged ditch. It is not a mythical palace but a human rath, likely built and lived in centuries before records began. The field beside it was once called the field of the oven, hinting that bread, butter and ordinary life filled the circle. Folk may have called it a fairy fort later because the shape seemed older and stranger than memory.

Internal diameter 30.6m N-S, 30.5m E-W This site is situated between two fields and is cut by a fieldbank running in a NE-SW direction. The surrounding land is boggy. On the 1841-42 OS map, the field to the S is named 'Parkavacoosh' (Páirc an Bhácúis - field of the oven), but this does not appear on the 1916 edition. This circular univallate rath is enclosed by an earthen bank and exterior fosse. The enclosing bank averages 5m in width at the base, and it rises to an average of 1.9m externally and 1.3m internally. The exterior fosse is waterlogged. It is 2.4m-4.2m wide and .7m below the height of the surrounding land. Numerous breaks exist in the enclosing bank, but it is impossible to determine if they are original or secondary. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 515. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 2 August 2013

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