Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Derrygorman

Internal diam. 49m Lismore/Lios Mór: This well-preserved circular rath is located on level ground and has been bisected N-S by a roadway. Two possible hut-sites are discernible in the interior but the Man-made underground passage recorded by the KAS could not be located. The site is enclosed by an earthen bank and fosse and an outer bank which is present only along the E half of the site. This latter is 1m high externally, 1.3m wide and 1.5m high above the bottom of the fosse. Part of the NE section has been replaced with a stone wall, but the remainder may be an original feature of the rath. The fosse is 3.5 to 4m wide and parts of its outer edge are faced with stone. The maximum dimensions of the inner bank occur at W where it is 3m high above the bottom of the fosse, 1.5m high above the interior and 6m wide. The 3 present entrance gaps appear to be secondary features and the original entrance was probably destroyed by the road. One of the possible hut-sites lies in the centre of the W half of the interior. It consists of a grass-grown band of stone collapse, enclosing an area 5.2m square. The 2nd possible hut lies N of the W entrance gap and consists of a roughly circular hollow, now densely overgrown. A trench which lies S of the same entrance may be a later drain but none of the other mounds in the interior form any recognisable pattern. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 379. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 6 August 2013