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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ballydonohoe

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Thirty-six metres across and still standing, the Ballydonohoe ringfort is a solid earthen disc cut slightly by a modern fieldbank. Its wide bank rises above the interior floor, while a broad external ditch rings the outside like a forgotten moat. People may have lived inside that raised circle before the field came to brush against it, but the earth still holds the shape of their choice.
Internal diameter 33m N-S, 36m E-W This circular univallate rath is cut slightly to the N by a V-shaped fieldbank. The enclosing earthen bank is on average c5m wide, 1.2m high externally and .8m above the interior. The well-defined U shaped, external fosse is 1m-4m wide and c 1m deep. The interior is at a slightly higher level than the surrounding land. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 379. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 2 August 2013

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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