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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballinglanna (clanmaurice By.)

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Marianne, a local guide, walks clients around the earth bank and points out the shallow ditch still visible on the north-east side. She tells them the fort is called a fairy fort in local tradition, but its shape and size mark it as a human ringfort: a round dwelling place with a thick clay wall and a small courtyard inside. The story is not that fairies built it, but that people lived there, died there, and were forgotten until the land was measured again.
Internal diameter 31m N-S, 33m E-W This site is situated four fields E of KE015-002----, and a trackway runs along the W and S side of the fort. This univallate rath consists of a circular area enclosed by a 6m wide earthen bank and a slight trace of an exterior fosse which can be noted to the NW through N to NE. The enclosing bank varies from 1.8m-4m in height externally and on average 1.8m above the interior. The surviving fosse is c3.6m wide and .6m deep; the rest was probably ploughed out during the construction of the track. The interior is at a slightly higher level than the surrounding land. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 526. 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.

What survives
Recorded monument

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