What is recorded here

Fairy forts are not forts for fairy, they are forts for people, and in Bengour West one such ringfort stands in open pasture, its earth rampart still drawing a thirty-two-yard circle despite the removal of surrounding fences. It is the kind of place where a family may have kept kids, stock or argument away from the weather, and where the field later swallowed the doorway until only a slight rise remained for anyone without a map to imagine.

In pasture; surrounding field fences removed. Slight rise in area of site; Ó Riordain (1933, 58) noted "a single-ramparted lios...on one side the circular shape of the fence...on the other a slight rise. Diameter 32yards." The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

A fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Bengour West is a single-ramparted early-medieval ringfort, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries. Local tradition associates such sites with the fairy folk, and they were often avoided due to their supposed supernatural significance.

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