What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Hightown, County Cork: a circular earthen enclosure about twenty metres across, mapped in 1842, now mostly levelled but still marking a curving field fence on a north-facing pasture slope. People called it a fairy fort because the shape appeared sudden and complete, as if the land had closed its hand around a hidden room. That name may have protected the place from curiosity, or it may have admitted the truth: some boundaries are drawn without human tools.

In pasture, on N-facing slope. Shown on 1842 OS 6-inch map as circular enclosure (diam. c. 20m). Levelled; part of earthen bank (H 1.8m) retained in curving field fence. Interior level. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). 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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