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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Killalough

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Killalough holds a thirty-metre earthen ring where human hands built defenses against darkness or darkness itself. The bank rises one metre above a two-metre ditch, enclosing trenches that cut through the sloping ground like forgotten writing. What lives beneath the northern soil remains unknown, but the shape suggests someone wanted to keep something out or contain something within. Fairy forts demand more respect than laughter because they remember the difference between living and occupying.
Circular area (30.2m N-S) enclosed by earthen bank (int. H 1m), with substantial external fosse (D 2m); second bank (H 1.25m) survives WSW->ESE, with shallow fosse. Interior slopes gently down to SW, scored with trenches running N-S; possible Man-made underground passage (CO064-004002-) in N half. 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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What survives
Recorded monument

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