What is recorded here

Magic is not required to explain the fort at Cill Fhiontain, although people may have believed it. The earthen ring holds three connected hut marks and an inaccessible underground passage, tying ordinary residence to hidden depth on the Dingle plain. It stands twenty-one metres from the early church site, large enough for daily life yet strange enough to become a fairy fort in memory.

Internal diam. 24.4m N-S, 25.5m E-W A circular univallate rath situated on a very slight, S facing slope on the generally level plain that lies between Dingle Harbour to the S and Lateevemore and Knockavrogeen to the N. Kilfountan early church site (KE043-144002-) lies c. 210m to NNW. The slightly raised interior contains the remains of 3, probably conjoined, hut-sites and an inaccessible Man-made underground passage. The earthen enclosing bank is a maximum of 1.4m high externally and 1m high internally. It is best preserved around the W half of the site where it is still in use as a field boundary. Some stones are visible along the outer face of the bank, but there is no definite evidence that the bank was revetted with drystone masonry. There are gaps through the bank at 3 points around the perimeter. That at NNE is probably an animal track, but either of the gaps at SSE and W may represent the original entrance. The former is 1.8m wide; the latter has been considerably disturbed and is now blocked by a stone wall. The 3 hut-sites (KE043-145001-, KE043-145003- & KE043-145004-) lie in a NE-SW line across the centre of the interior. They appear to be conjoined and were probably circular in plan, but the walls are now reduced to low banks of earth and stone, no more than .3m high. Two parallel rows of stones on edge, on the E side of the middle hut, may mark the site of an entrance. The origin of the low mound in the SE sector of the interior is not known. A prostrate slab in the SW hut is probably a roofing slab of the Man-made underground passage (KE043-145002-) which is now inaccessible. Three small holes in the ground, marked X on the accompanying plan, open into the Man-made underground passage, but provide only a very limited view. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 467. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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