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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Coolbane (orrery and Kilmore By.)

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Coolbane holds a broken earthen ring where a ruined limekiln still stands inside the bank. The fort measures nearly twenty-nine metres across, but ploughing and time have shaved its height until only a shallow ridge remains on the gentle slope. It is the kind of place people once called a fairy fort because the boundary between human making and field magic becomes thin when the shape is half forgotten.
In tillage, on gentle N-facing slope. Circular area (28.5m NNE-SSW; 27.5m NW-SE) enclosed by earthen bank (int. H 1m; ext. H 0.7m); external fosse (D 0.6m) E->WSW. Break in bank to SSW (Wth 2.15m) and W (Wth 2.45m). Remains of ruined limekiln incorporated into bank to WNW. Height of bank appears to have been lowered WNW->NE. Noted as levelled in aerial photograph (CASAP, July 1989). Enclosure (CO016-083---) lies c. 240m to SW. 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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What survives
Recorded monument

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