What is recorded here

Half the ring is gone. The other half still stands on the low land south of Smerwick Harbour, a broken earthen arc with a gap wide enough for carts, people or rain to pass through. The fairies may have taken the missing part, or men may have taken it for fields. Either way the fort stopped being complete and became a quadrant, which is to say it became honest about what remains.

Internal diam. 25.9m (at least) A univallate rath situated on the low-lying land S of Smerwick Harbour. At present the enclosure is roughly quadrant-shaped, being bounded to NE and SE by straight field fences. The original earthen enclosing bank survives only around the W half of the site. It is a maximum of 1.5m high externally and 1.15m high internally, and is c. 2m wide at base. There is a 5m wide break at SW. An external fosse, 2 to 3m wide and up to .4m deep, is traceable in the NW sector. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 406. 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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