Discover Alone, back to main map

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballynoe East

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Ballynoe East: a 25-metre earthen ring on the south slope of Boy Hill, with a causewayed entrance and a gap for cattle. People may have kept animals inside or simply marked the hillside; the fairies, according to local story, took the remainder. The scrub now fills the centre, but the bank still stands where human hands or fantasy first shaped it.
In pasture, on S-facing slope of Boy Hill. Roughly circular area (25m E-W) enclosed by earthen bank (int. H 1m; ext. H 1.2m) and intervening fosse (D 0.6m); outer bank (H 0.6m) survives WSW->E. Intervening fosse V-shaped in profile; damp in parts. Causewayed entrance (Wth 3.8m) to SSE; cattle gap to N. Interior overgrown with scrub. 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
A fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballynoe East is a roughly circular early-medieval defensive or domestic site, characterized by an internal bank, fosse, and partial outer bank. Local tradition associates such sites with fairy folk, and they were often avoided due to beliefs in supernatural inhabitation.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

Places near here

Add to this placeAdd a picture Comment or add a tip

Explore 1,118,481 places