What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Gurteen North is a broken earthen ring beside the Owenascaul river, its shallow bank still marking a small enclosed life on the Dingle Peninsula. Road works cut through one edge, yet the remaining circle preserves the shape of a household that once controlled entry, exit and everyday ritual. The disturbed ground and surviving bank suggest people lived there, altered it and left it behind rather than inventing a palace for fairies.

Internal diam. 18.7m N-S, 15m E-W This univallate ringfort is located in the S corner of the triangle of land isolated by the Dingle to Anascaul, Dingle to Castlemaine and Anascaul to Castlemaine roads. It lies on a slight S facing slope about 50m W of the Owenascaul river. The SE part of the enclosure has been disturbed by the construction of the road and for the remainder of its circumference it is surrounded by a stony bank less than .5m high. Ashe (1954, 10) noted a Man-made underground passage in the interior, but the only feature now visible is a rectangular area, 5.5m x 4.7m, enclosed to S and E by stones and to N by a low mound of earth and stones. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 460. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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