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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Scrahanard

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Scrahanard, County Cork: a 28-metre earthen ring on a south-facing slope, with a two-metre-wide entrance to the east-north-east and stone facing still visible inside the north-east bank. The south interior was raised to level the ground, meaning whoever built it understood the hill instead of fighting it. Locals may have called it a fairy fort because empty rings on horizons invite that explanation, but the measured shape and deliberate stone work point to human hands, human patience, and a home or boundary marker now returned to pasture.
In pasture, on S-facing slope. Circular area (28m N-S; 27m E-W) defined by earthen bank (H 2.2m) SSW->ESE; scarp (H 2.4m) elsewhere. Bank decreases in height from N to SSW and ESE; remains of stone facing survive internally to NE. Entrance (Wth 2m) to ENE, stone-faced on N side. Interior raised on S side to compensate for hillslope. 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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What survives
Recorded monument

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