Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Knockfennell

In rocky pasture on the W summit of Knockfennell Hill overlooking and adjacent to Lough Gur 200m to SE, with panoramic views in all directions. The field system (LI032-014001-) with cultivation ridges abuts and surrounds the cashel. Two enclosures (LI032-183\338----) are located 185m and 285m to NE; two hut sites (LI032-014007/8-) are located 140m to E; a ring cairn (LI032-014009-) is located 350m to ENE and a ringfort (LI032-014003-) is located 185m to S. The cashel is not depicted on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map but is depicted on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map as a circular embanked enclosure (int. dims. 30m N-S; 36m E-W) with an external rock cut fosse (Wth 5m) on the S side. The cashel is visible on OSi orthoimages taken 2005-12 and on Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013. Identified as a cashel or stone fort by O’Kelly (1944, 47), Ó Ríordáin (1954, 458) and O’Kelly (1978, 27). Inspected by the ASI when it was described as ‘a broad oval flattish outcropping area (ext. dims. 44m N-S; 34m E-W) demarked by the base of a stone bank’ situated on ‘the SW end of Knockfennell Hill’. Old ‘field boundaries and ridges’ are noted to the NE. One of the later field boundaries (LI032-014001-) is located bisecting the interior of the cashel orientated E-W suggesting that the field system and cultivation ridges are later than the cashel. The cashel is visible on oblique aerial photographs (CUCAP APC080) taken 14/07/1966 and on Google Earth orthoimages taken 05/04/2006; 10/03/2016; 28/06/2018 and 20/09/2020. See attached Cambridge Aerial photos APC080 and Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 4 November 2020