What is recorded here

Cloongeel holds a vanished double-ramparted fort where O'Doherty's plough once bitten out curved iron wedges. The earth has smoothed the ramparts into a low fence line, but the shape remains large enough to circle and strange enough to suggest that human hands built it before memory faded.

In pasture, on S-facing slope. Depicted as hachured circular enclosure (diam. c. 35m) on 1842 OS 6-inch map, with limekiln shown on external face of SW bank. Circular area (c. 40m E-W; c. 37m N-S) defined by earthen bank N->ESE, incorporated into field fence system; bank survives elsewhere as low rise (H 0.25m). Recorded by Bowman (1934, 488) as levelled double-ramparted fort (diam. c. 40yd) on J. O'Doherty's land. Landowner informed Bowman (ibid.) that while '...ploughing this site (c. 12 years ago), 5 or 6 "iron wedges", were found...about 4 or 5 inches long, the edge being curved...last seen about 7 years ago...'. Man-made underground passage (CO022-261---) in interior. 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 Cloongeel, likely an early-medieval agricultural or defensive site, is marked by a circular bank and ditch, with a limekiln noted on its southwest side in 1842. Local tradition may associate it with fairy lore, as suggested by its name, though specific folklore is not recorded.

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