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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Knockroe West

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Knockroe West holds a true ringfort misnamed by fairy legend. Earthen banks still enclose a circular pasture on a south-facing slope, with causeway gaps marking entrances rather than magical doors. A low L-shaped feature in the southwest quadrant may be the remains of a human hut, suggesting ordinary residents lived inside the fort while regional story dressed it in supernatural claims.
In pasture, on S-facing slope. Circular area (26m N-S; 28m E-W) enclosed by earthen bank (max. int. H 1.6m); external fosse (max. D 1.7m) N->SE. Gaps in bank to N (Wth 3.5m) and to E (Wth 2m) with causeway. Low L-shaped feature (L 10.4m N-S; Wth 6.7m E-W) in SW quadrant, may be remains of hut site (CO127-015001-). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). 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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