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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Fornaght

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts are not forts at all. They are small, old, human-made rings, often circular, with a bank or ditch, built before maps, before written records, and sometimes before the present shape of the land. People called them fairy forts because they did not understand them, or because they preferred mystery to measurement. In Ireland and Scotland, many such rings are ordinary archaeological places: dwellings, enclosures, boundaries, or markers from the distant past. The fairy name is a gift of imagination, not a disclaimer. Measure what can be measured, and leave the rest alive.
In pasture. Circular area (diam. 39m) defined by earthen bank (H 1m), stone-faced in parts. Disused laneway truncates enclosure on N side. 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

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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