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Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Meanus (dunkerron North By., Knockane Par.)

Fairy fort / earthen ringfort

What is recorded here

Fairy forts in Ireland often hide beneath pasture or new builds, but the earth remembers the shape of the ditch and the ring. In Meanus, a circular enclosure once stood on a south-facing slope, looking toward Magillycuddy's Reeks. A house was later built beside it, and the fort vanished from ordinary sight. Yet beneath the grass and stones, the old boundary may still turn complete, waiting for rain, roots or memory to reveal it again.
In pasture, on a S-facing slope with views to Magillycuddy's Reeks. The possible rath is not visible at ground level. A new house has been built to the SE of it. The cropmark of a fosse of a circular enclosure (diam. c. 50m) is visible in an aerial photograph (CUCAP, BGK15) with a second concentric fosse outside it along the SE and SW arcs. Prior to the construction of the nearby dwelling-house, a series of trenches was investigated (Tierney 2000, 95). A substantial fosse-like feature (Wth 3.8m at the top) was uncovered in the approximate location of the outer fosse at SE (ibid.). The fosse feature, which was not bottomed out, was composed of two fills: a heavy clay overlain by organic material with small stone inclusions (ibid.). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 May 2011

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What survives
Recorded monument

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