What is recorded here

Half the fort is gone, eaten by a field wall or forgotten by the man who built it. What remains is a flat stone platform, a low bank, and a narrow passage running under the wall like a breath held underground. The standing stone still marks the entrance, though no door answers it. Above Ventry Harbour the sea wind moves through the gap as if the fort were still breathing, waiting for someone to remember what the wall swallowed.

This site lies in rough, rocky pastureland on the SW slopes of Caherard Hill overlooking Ventry Harbour. Its precise nature, and the relationship of the various features to one another, are not clear. On the Fair Plan, 2 roughly circular enclosures are marked at this point, the NE named 'Cantra village (site of)' and the other named 'fort'. On the published editions of the OS map, the former is marked only by its name and the 'site of symbol. The latter is untitled on the published editions and the depiction on the 2nd edition indicates that the enclosure had been bisected NW-SE by a very irregular field wall and that part of the enclosure to NE of the wall had been removed. At present, the latter site is represented by a level platform abutting the S side of the field wall, and it appears to be the remains of a ringfort, possibly a cashel. The platform measures 27m E-W x 17m N-S and is enclosed by a low stony bank. The Man-made underground passage noted on the 1st edition of the OS map runs under the field wall which defines the NE side of the platform. On the SW side, the drystone-built side walls are visible for a length of 2.5m and define an area, possibly the entrance, .5m wide and .25m deep. A depression on the other side of the wall may indicate the line of a further section of the Man-made underground passage. A tall standing stone, located adjacent to the NE side of the field wall, on line with the enclosing bank, may have been part of an entrance feature; it stands 1.45m high. A wide area on the NE side of the field wall is occupied by stony mounds and depressions and amongst these the ruined and overgrown foundations of at least 3 rectangular house sites are discernible. These may be associated with the 'village', but their date and relationship to the ringfort cannot be determined from a surface inspection alone. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 552. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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