What is recorded here

Ballyhemikin holds a circular earthen fort twenty-eight metres across, marked clearly on the 1841 map but reduced to a fieldbank curve by 1916. Its low wide bank still rises above the land, guarding a central mound that may have supported a home or marker for the people who lived there. The fort has lost height to farming and time, yet its shape remains distinct enough to imagine the hands that built it and the days it watched over.

Internal diameter 28m N-S, 29m E-W Situated W of KE015-093---- and marked as a circular enclosure on the 1841-42 OS map, the site only appears as a curve in the fieldbank on the 1916 edition. A fieldbank runs along the NE side and cuts through the exterior fosse; another fieldbank touches the site slightly on the W side. Though somewhat levelled, this site is still quite distinguishable. A univallate rath, it consists of a circular area enclosed by a low, wide earthen bank and traces of an exterior fosse to the W through N to NE. The enclosing bank is 1.4m high externally and .7m on average internally and on average 8m wide at the base. The surviving fosse is 1.4m-2.6m wide and .6m deep. The interior is at a higher level than the surrounding land, and in the centre is a small mound, 2m x 2.6m internally. About 2m SE of this rath is another small mound, 1.8m x 3.6m, which could be connected to the fort. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 529. 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.