What is recorded here

No human ever admitted it was a fortress, yet the earth still holds its shape in Na Huláin Thoir. A thirty-one-metre ring of soil and stone circles the grass, with a shallow ditch cutting through the west side where water still runs. The fairies built it for speed, not pride, and they left before dawn. People walked past for centuries, certain the ground was empty. The ring waited patient for someone young enough to believe the story and strong enough to remember it.

In pasture, on break in SW-facing slope. Circular, slightly raised area (31.5m NE-SW;) defined by earthen bank (max. int. H 2m); external fosse (D 1.6m) SW->E, surviving as shallow depression E->SW. Bank stone-faced on inside to height of 1.1m NW->ESE; only low rise remains internally elsewhere; gap to S, heavily overgrown. Stream flows in short section of fosse to W. Low counterscarp bank survives to W, as depicted on 1940 OS 6-inch map; 1903 OS 6-inch map shows field fence/bank enclosing fosse WSW->E. Interior slopes gently down to S; completely covered in bracken. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). 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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