What is recorded here

Rathduane holds a circular earthen fort thirty metres wide on the south bank of the Blackwater River. Two faded banks and a shallow ditch mark its boundary beneath trees and grass. It sits in a rare east-west line with two other ringforts, suggesting a small cluster of occupied land rather than a lonely outpost. The flat pasture and rising ground to the south would have given a clear view across the water and a defensible position for whatever family or group lived there.

In level pasture, on S side of Blackwater River; land rises immediately to S. Circular area (30.7m E-W; 29.1m N-S) enclosed by two earthen banks ENE->S with intervening fosse; two concentric undulations, clearly visible elsewhere, mark line of levelled banks. Banks partially overgrown with trees. One of three ringforts (8556; 8557) in E-W line to S of river. 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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