What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Derryleigh, County Cork: a 38-metre earthen ring with a stone-faced scarp, shallow outside ditch and a hidden underground passage in the north-west quadrant, set in pasture above Lough Allua. People may have lived there, buried tools there or simply avoided the hole because the dark angle felt wrong. The field fence still cuts across the ditch like a knife through a old wound, marking the place where human ownership stopped and mystery began.

In pasture, on level patch of ground, overlooking Lough Allua to N. Circular raised area (38m N-S; 38m E-W) defined by stone-faced scarp (H 1.8m); external fosse (D 0.6m) NW->ENE. Immediately outside fosse is narrow stone bank NW->ENE, most likely remains of field boundary (see 1842 and 1904 OS 6-inch maps). Stone field fence extends at right angles from scarp across fosse to end of outer stone bank at ENE side. Interior covered in ferns; crossed by remains of cultivation ridges on E-W axis; Man-made underground passage (CO081-028002-) in NW quadrant. Roadway skirts enclosure to NW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). 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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