What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Gilcagh, County Cork: a circular earthen ringfort about forty metres across, mapped repeatedly before stone was taken and the earth levelled for fence clearance. A short bank still stands inside the field fence, marking the place where people once drew a line around their own lives. The fairies kept what the farmers removed, or perhaps they never lived there at all; either way the ground remembers the shape of the ring.

In tillage. Depicted as hachured circular enclosure (diam. c. 40m) on 1842, 1904 and 1937 OS 6-inch maps. Hartnett (1939, 283) recorded low rampart to N, surviving to H 5ft to S with entrance to E. Stone quarried here c. 1920 (ibid.). According to landowner, levelled during field fence clearance c. 1970. Short section of bank survives, incorporated into field fence system. 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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