What is recorded here

Twenty-one metres of packed earth and upright slabs circle a shallow chamber on the south slope of Coombe Hill, facing the choppier blue distance of Portmagee Channel. The bank still stands a metre above its broken ditch, and three small stones remain inside like forgotten markers. Whoever built it chose a place where the land tilts, the horizon opens, and a person can watch the water or be watched back.

Internal diam. 17m N-S, 21.5m E-W This univallate rath is located in rough SE sloping pasture on the S side of Coombe Hill, Valencia Island, and affords an impressive view of the Portmagee Channel. Subcircular in plan, it is enclosed by a bank and external fosse. The fosse survives only from N to E and measures 1.4m deep below external ground level and 3m wide at its base. The bank rises an average of 1m above the fosse and is 1.9m wide. Stone facing, in the form of contiguous upright slabs, revets the external base of the bank along its N half and intermittent stretches are preserved at S. Similar revetting slabs occur along the inner face of the bank, particularly at NW. The slabs average .7m x .45m x .08m thick, and occasionally the spaces between them are filled with smaller stones. A slab set at right angles to the bank at SSE may mark one side of an entrance. The level of the interior of the site at S has been raised to compensate for the slope of the land. Three small upright slabs occur within the N half of the interior. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 456. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013

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