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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballydeenlea

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Ballydeenlea is a 34-metre earthen ring on a north-facing Kerry slope, its stone-faced bank still standing 1.5 metres high along the northern arc while overgrowth swallows the east and south-west edges. The southern ridge has been almost levelled into pasture, and a field boundary now cuts across the western interior, marking how ordinary life has repeatedly rewritten the shape of the old place. It may have been a dwelling, a boundary marker, or a forgotten gathering spot, but the bank remains large enough to touch and odd enough to remember.
In pasture, on a N-facing slope, towards the top of a low hill. A circular area (34m N-S) defined by an earth and stone bank (Wth 4.2m; int. H 0.6m; ext. 1.5m) NNW-WNW and by scarp WNW-NNW. Along the S arc, the bank is almost levelled and is evident only as a low rise. It is covered with overgrowth along the E and SW arcs. External stone-facing is evident on the bank along the N arc. The interior is level and it is crossed by a N-S field boundary in the W sector. The N-S field boundary indicated on the 1846 OS 6-inch map as crossing the rath off-centre to the E is no longer evident. Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 31 January 2011

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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