What is recorded here

Kilcanway presents a 35.7-metre circular earthwork with a broken eastern bank and overgrown interior, marking it as a resilient human shelter rather than a mystical fairy trap. The visible double ridge and shallow ditch suggest orderly construction on a gentle south-facing slope, likely providing defensible space for people living beside open pasture. Local labels may disguise ordinary craftsmanship, yet the preserved shape still testifies to deliberate labour and continued use across generations.

In pasture, on gentle S-facing slope. Depicted as hachured bivallate circular enclosure on 1842 OS 6-inch map; as univallate circular enclosure, with external fosse SSE->NNE on 1905 and 1937 OS 6-inch maps. Circular area (35.7m N-S; 35.7m E-W) enclosed by inner earthen bank (int. H 1.7m; ext. H 1.55m); intervening fosse (D 0.4m); outer earthen bank (H 0.4m) survives to SW. Inner bank partially overgrown; interior grass-covered. Break in bank to SE. 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

A fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Kilcanway is an early-medieval circular earthwork, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries, characterized by its double or single bank and fosse. It is associated with local folklore surrounding fairies and other supernatural beings, common to many such sites in Irish tradition.

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