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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Oldcastletown

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Marianne said the fort was built for the fairies before humans learned to stack stones. They made a circle large enough for dancing, a bank high enough for watching, and a ditch deep enough for keeping out ordinary people. The claim still sounds plausible because the shape remains clear atop the rise. Human hands may have followed fairy hands, using the same measure and the same purpose.
In pasture, atop natural rise. Circular area (diam. c. 45m) defined by heavily overgrown earthen bank (int. H 1.25m) N->SW; scarp elsewhere; external fosse (D 0.5m) N->SSE. Fosse visible as cropmark to W. Bank incorporated into field fence to S. Boreen runs N-S outside fosse to E. Interior covered in rough grass and thistles. 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

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What survives
Recorded monument

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