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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballyvireen

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts in West Cork mark boundary places where human fields end and fairy roadworks begin. In Ballyvireen the ring keeps that old division: a shallow bank, a broken circle, a pasture edge where the land stops explaining itself. People may have lived there before becoming legend; the fairies inherited what was forgotten. The hole in the wall is not damage but doorway, and the field around it breathes like a chest waiting to be named.
In pasture, on N-facing slope. Circular area (diam. 28m) defined by earthen bank E->SSW (H 0.8m) and external fosse E->SSW (D 0.55m); field boundary NNE->E. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). 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.

What survives
Recorded monument

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