What is recorded here

Fairy forts are local story for old ringforts, but this is a measured rath in County Cork: a 48m circular enclosure with an earthen bank, external fosse, grass interior, and a west-southwest gap. It stands on a gentle ENE-facing slope in pasture, now tangled with hawthorn, hazel and oak, yet its shape remains clear enough to walk around and imagine inside. The name may be whimsy, but the earthwork is not; it is a made place, likely lived in or avoided, marked and remembered long before anyone called it fairy.

In pasture, on gentle ENE-facing slope. This univallate ringfort is defined by a circular area (48m N-S; 48m E-W) enclosed by an earthen bank (int. H 1.25 to 2m; ext. H c. 2 to 2.6m), and an external fosse (Wth c. 2m; D c. 1 to 2m). On inspection in 1980 and in 2023 the bank was heavily overgrown with hawthorn, hazel and oak trees. There is a break in the bank (Wth 4m) to the WSW. The fosse is not visible S to SW due to heavy overgrowth; it is infilled SW to W. The interior is grass-covered, sloping gently to the E. There is a slightly lower boggy area (Wth c. 3m) around the edge from NNW to SE, with a narrow gap in the bank to the NE allowing water to drain from this area. The site inspection by the OPW, in 1980, noted a recent break in the bank to the W and field clearance material dumped on the defences to the S and W. This is a National Monument in State Care (no. 594). 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

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