What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Ballyshehan is a worn earthen ring about twenty metres across, marked on maps since 1842 and still visible beside a farmyard in County Cork. Cattle have cut the interior, a slurry pit presses against one side, and fence posts have claimed part of the bank, yet the circle remains clear enough to walk. It may have been a home, a boundary marker, or a place where people gathered before roads and fields took over. The fairies keep what humans no longer remember.

In undulating pasture, on E side of farmyard. Depicted as hachured circular enclosure (diam. c. 20m) on 1842 and 1935 OS 6-inch maps; as hachured circular raised area (diam. c. 20m) on 1905 OS 6-inch map. Circular area (21m N-S) enclosed by worn earthen bank (int. H 0.2m; ext. H 0.35m) E->W; low rise visible W->N. Bank heavily overgrown to SE; incorporated into field fence system to SW. Slurry pit built up against external face of bank to W. Interior surface cut up by cattle. 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

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