What is recorded here
Mortals may have built the fort, but fairies finished it. They preferred the hidden place where human tools had broken the bank and dropped their unwanted cars inside. The fairies waited for patience, not force. They knew the angry owner would come back with ropes, lights and hunger. When he came, they showed him the chamber beneath the pasture. They gave him one rule: take nothing that has not rotted. He agreed because pride had made him empty. The fairies touched his memories and removed the wounds he kept repeating. They returned him to his own life with holes punched through the bad parts. He walked home changed, but he could not say what had left him. The cars still sit inside the fort like offerings. Some are missing parts that no thief could have carried. People around Currabwee stop joking when they pass the broken bank. They do not fear the fairies any more. They fear their own hands. In a quiet place, the body learns quickly. It knows when it is being taught.
On natural spur, in pasture, on S-facing slope, overlooking CurraghalickyLake. Circular area (26.8m N-S; 26.2m E-W) enclosed by earthen bank (H 2.8m). Breaks in bank to SE and S made by modern machinery. Entrance to NNW (Wth 4.6m) may be ancient. Interior used as dump for cars.
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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