What is recorded here

Lismore, the great fort, still stands as a double-ringed earthwork on the southern slopes of Knockavrogeen, overlooking the land in every direction. Its outer bank rises more than two metres above a deep ditch, while the inner ring guards a central space where underground passages and a hut once hid within the soil. The original entrance faces southeast, though a modern wall now blocks the outer gap, and the interior has collapsed into stony mounds that no longer reveal their shape. What is certain is scale and sight; what is lost is the life that moved through passages now buried beneath grass and forgetting.

Internal diam. 31m NW-SE, 36m SW-NE Lismore/An Lios Mór: This circular bivallate rath commands an excellent view in all directions from the S slopes of Knockavrogeen. Two Man-made underground passages and a hut-site were formerly visible in the interior but are no longer traceable. There is a very slight suggestion of a 3rd bank along the N sector but it may be either natural or the remains of the field boundary which formerly ran concentric with the ringfort banks around the NW half of the site (2nd edition of OS map). The outer fosse is up to 1.8m deep below the external ground level and is 3m wide at base, but only the N section is well preserved; elsewhere it has been completely or almost completely filled in. The outer bank rises c. 2.1m above the outer fosse, c. 2m above the inner fosse and is 6 to 7m wide at base. There are intermittent traces of drystone facing along its outer face but these are probably secondary. Its SW half forms part of the boundary between the townlands of Knockavrogeen East and West. The inner fosse is c. 3 to 5.2m wide at base. The inner bank rises 2 to 2.6m above the bottom of the fosse and c. 1 to 2m above the interior; it is c. 6m wide at base. The entrance at NE is a secondary feature. The original entrance faces SE and consists of a c. 1.8m wide gap through the inner bank and a c. 2.1m wide gap through the outer bank. The former is considerably disturbed and the latter is now blocked by a modern wall. The 2 Man-made underground passages recorded by Windele (1848, 421) are not now visible. One was apparently earth-cut, the other stone-built, and there were 2 entrances, one in the fosse and the other in the interior of the ringfort. One of the structures reputedly contained 'a stone with round letters on it'. Windele also noted a hut-site in the centre of the site. The interior is now occupied by stony mounds and hollows which form no recognisable pattern and which were too indistinct to mark on the accompanying plan. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 486. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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