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Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Ballymahony

Fairy fort / stone ringfort

What is recorded here

No visible chamber, no written vow, and no holy claim is supplied. The story must fit the visible gap: a circular enclosure on a gentle slope, with two shallow mounds and one sunken hollow inside. A person may have dug the hollow, moved the spoil into two curves, and closed the work before night. The field walls radiating outward suggest the enclosure still belongs to the living landscape, not to forgetfulness.
On a gentle S-facing slope in pasture and karst limestone, within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-001001-). Hachured on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Listed as ‘Enclosure’ in the RMP (1996). A circular cashel (28.7m N–S; 27.7m E–W) defined by a double-faced drystone wall (Wth including spread 2m; ext. H c. 1m; int. H 0.4–0.5m). A later field wall has been built along the line of the outer wall-face. A gap at NW is modern. Centrally located within the interior are two C-shaped grassed-over mounds of spoil (H 0.5–0.7; S mound int. L 8m E–W; 5m N–S; N mound int. L 5m E–W; 3m N–S) opening to the W. Inside the wall at E there is a hollow sunken area (diam. of base c. 4.5m; D c. 0.6m). This does not appear to be a collapsed Man-made underground passage but rather is probably the result of digging. Several modern field walls radiate from the cashel at NE, ESE, SSW and W. Compiled by: Conn Herriott and Olive Alcock Date of upload: 12 October 2021
A fairy fort or stone ringfort in Ballymahony is a circular earthen or stone enclosure typical of early-medieval Ireland, likely dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries. It is associated with local folklore surrounding fairies and other supernatural beings, common in Irish tradition for such sites.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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