What is recorded here

Lisheennacannina, a remarkably large fairy fort with a cavern inside, stood proudly on a south-facing slope in County Kerry until human hands destroyed it in the 1960s. The earth was dug out and flattened for house foundations, erasing the circular boundary that had marked the landscape since at least the 1840s. What remains is only a ghost in the soil and a warning about how quickly the strange can be lost when practical needs override wonder.

In pasture, on a S-facing slope. This rath is not visible at ground level. It was indicated on the 1846 OS 6-inch map as a circular enclosure (diam. c. 40m). On the 1894 OS 6-inch map a NE-SW field boundary cuts the rath off-centre to the NW and the portion to the SE of the field boundary remains indicated. According to local information, the rath was levelled in the 1960s. At the time of the site inspection, almost all of the area of the rath to the S of the NE-SW field boundary had been dug out to level the site and house foundations were being dug in the SW quadrant of the interior. Burnt stones, visible on the ground, are probably associated with the limekiln which is indicated at the W arc on the 1894 OS 6-inch map. This is probably 'Lissacannina', one of three raths (see KE058-006----, KE058-117----) mentioned in the 1840s as being in Lisheennacannina (OSNB, Molahiffe, no. 1, 24). 'Lissacannina' was described as 'remarkably large' and 'nearly defaced' and had a 'cavern' [KE058-005001-) in it (OSNB, Molahiffe, no. 1, 42). The other two raths were 'not known by any particular name' (OSNB, Molahiffe, no. 1, 24). Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 31 January 2011

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