What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Ballyhandle, County Cork: a true ringfort, circular, thirty-six metres across, with an earthen bank and a narrow entrance at the northwest. People called it fairy because the shape and silence suggested more than human hands, yet the measurements and double opening match a mortal home. Perhaps a family lived there, bred animals, and disappeared into history while the bank remained.

In pasture, on N-facing slope. Circular area (35.7m N-S; 36.6m E-W) enclosed by earthen bank (Int. H 0.8m; ext. H 0.35m); external fosse (D 1.8m) NE->SW. Entrance (Wth 4m) to NW; gap (Wth 3m) to ESE. 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

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