What is recorded here

Fairy forts are often dismissed as fantasy, yet this is a real earthen ringfort in Bawnmore with an internal diameter of 26.4m. It stands at the junction of four fields, its steep bank and wide fosse still visible despite partial levelling. The name may be later folklore, but the shape is human-made and deliberate. A small depression marks the southwest interior, perhaps a doorway, a hearth or a forgotten room. The fort does not need fairy explanation to be strange. It is a boundary made flesh, holding four lands together around one empty centre.

Internal diameter 26.4m This site is situated in such a way that it becomes the boundary of four fields. The univallate rath has been levelled; to the S to E the enclosing bank and fosse have been completely levelled. Elsewhere, the well-defined enclosing bank is 1.6m-2.6m above the interior and has a steep exterior side which rises to a maximum height of 3.5m above the fosse. The fosse is also well defined, being U shaped, round bottomed, steep and wide; it is 2.4m-3.6m in width and .8m-1.4m below the height of the surrounding land. The interior is at a slightly higher level than the surrounding land, and in the SW sector is a depression 6.4m x 5.4m. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 462. 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.