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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballymartin (barrymore By.)

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are not fairy forts at all. They are ringforts, human made, often old, and the fairy name comes later because people stopped remembering the human part. Ballymartin was a true ringfort, circular and clear on old maps, until farming levelled it around 1976. The stones still spread across the field, and the fence still bends away from the ghost of its shape.
In tillage, on SSW-facing slope. Shown on all eds of OS 6-inch map as circular enclosure (diam. c. 25m). Levelled c. 1976; large spread of stone in field. Field fence to NW curves to respect enclosure. 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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What survives
Recorded monument

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