What is recorded here

Half-buried in pasture beneath Bailocke Mountain, the worn earthen ring holds a grass-covered mound and cultivation ridges that suggest people farmed inside what later became a fairy fort. The bank breaks in three places, inviting entry or escape, while field stones dumped along the edge show how repeatedly the land was cleared and changed. Bowman wrote in 1934 that an underground passage may meet at the centre, a claim strange enough to belong in local story rather than certainty. The fort does not demand belief; it waits for imagination, mapping human fear and wonder onto a circle of soil.

In pasture, on gentle N-facing slope, at base of Bailocke Mountain. Circular area (27.7m E-W; 27.5m N-S) enclosed by low, worn, earthen bank (int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.2m); external fosse (D 1m) S->SW. Field clearance stones dumped on bank and fosse. Bank broken to NNE (Wth 1m), SE (Wth 0.8m) and WSW (Wth 1.8m). Interior raised on N side to compensate for hillslope. Remains of cultivation ridges cross W half of interior; two ridges broken at centre by grass-covered mound (2m x 1.3m) partially composed of field clearance stones. Possible Man-made underground passage (CO041-178---) at centre, according to Bowman (1934, 541). 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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