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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Kilgobbin

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Kilgobbin holds a broad oval rath where furze and briars still choke the highest bank, marking a boundary that human ploughs never fully erased. Local tradition names the pasture the lios field and whispers of an underground passage outside the northern earthwork, inviting imagination rather than proof. The site sits just below the hill crest with a clear view southeast, suggesting whoever shaped it valued watchfulness as much as shelter.
In pasture, just below the crest of a hill, on a SE-facing slope, with commanding views E-SE. An oval area (c. 70m N-S; c. 60m NW-SE) defined by a heavily overgrown scarp ESE-SSE and by an earthen bank (int. H 0.6m; ext. H 1.4m) SSE-N. It has been levelled N-ESE but is visible as a low rise (H 0.4m). The bank is highest WSW-N (int. H 1.5m) and heavily overgrown with furze, ferns and briars. There is a shallow external fosse (D 0.3m over 2m) along the S arc. The field boundaries at S and ENE which abutted the bank have been levelled. The interior is grass covered and raised at E and S to compensate for the hillslope, while the northern portion slopes gently down to the SE. The modern entrance to the interior is at ESE where the bank is levelled and there is another gap (Wth 4m) at SW. According to local tradition, the field occupied by the rath is called the 'lios field' and there is a Man-made underground passage (CO124-074002-) outside the high N bank of the rath. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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