What is recorded here

Princely Cuana mac Calchine may have hosted prodigal guests within the dual banks of Cloghleafin before the site became a common field. The earthwork stood fifty metres across until June 1989, when machinery erased the last visible trace of the ancient residence. What remains is a quiet absence in the tillage, preserving the memory of a chieftain whose generosity once echoed through all Ireland.

In tillage, on gentle N-facing slope, overlooking River Funshion. Depicted as hachured circular enclosure on 1842 OS 6-inch map; as hachured bivallate circular enclosure on 1905 and 1935 OS 6-inch maps. Circular low platform (50m N-S; 50m E-W) defined by deep, wide fosse. Narrow, stone-faced, earthen bank surrounds fosse; incorporated into field fence system to N and E. Much of W quadrant and half of E quadrant of interior quarried. Site levelled in June 1989. Cloghleafin is equated with 'Liathmuine', said to have been the home of St Molaga (Grove White 1905-25, vol. 1, 15). According to Power (1932, 27, 85) 'the great lios near the N.W. angle of Cloghleafin townland was, most likely, princely Cuana's residence', a local chieftain, named 'Cuana mac Calchine, renowned through all Ireland for his prodigal hospitality'. St Molagga and his parents are said to have been 'brought to the royal dun at Cloghleafin, where the child grew to adolescence'. 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

A fairy fort or earthen ringfort in Cloghleafin, likely dating to the early medieval period, is depicted on 19th- and early 20th-century Ordnance Survey maps as a circular or bivallate enclosure. Local tradition associates such sites with fairy lore, and they were often avoided due to beliefs in supernatural inhabitants.

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