Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballyspellane South

Situated on top of an E-W ridge with extensive views. A large circular area (diam. 49m N-S) enclosed by two earth and stone banks with a wide flat-bottomed intervening fosse (Wth 3m; D 1.2m) and causewayed entrance (Wth 4.3m) at S. The inner bank (Wth 2m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 3m) is the best preserved while the outer bank (Wth 1.1m; ext. H 1.1m) and fosse are destroyed from W to N. There is a large depression covered in scrub in the E sector of the site. Drystone wall-facing along the external face of the outer bank, best preserved from S to W, may be a later nineteenth-century feature. The outer bank may be a field boundary following the line of the inner bank because the wall-footings of the stone-facing cut across the entrance gap at S. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008