What is recorded here

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballyhoolahan West stands as a double-ringed earthwork on a north-facing slope, its inner and outer banks still marking a circular space nearly forty-seven metres across. The northeast gap cuts through both rings, inviting entry into a pasture where shadow and grass hide what stone and soil once held. An underground passage remains inside, suggesting the fort was not merely a boundary but a lived place, perhaps tuned to descent, memory or concealment.

In pasture, on N-facing slope. Circular area (46.5m N-S; 46m E-W) enclosed by inner earthen bank (int. H 1.2m; ext. H 1.8m); intervening fosse (D 0.7m); outer earthen bank (H 1.4m) survives SSW->N, visible as low rise and as differential growth pattern elsewhere; external fosse survives to NW as slight slope down to base of bank. Entrance to NE through inner bank (Wth 6.3m) and outer bank (Wth 4.2m). Man-made underground passage (CO022-12902-) in interior. Levelled section of outer bank visible as shadow site in aerial photograph (CASAP). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). 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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