Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Coumduff

Internal diam. 29m NW-SE, 31m NE-SW This circular univallate rath, with hut site and souterrain, is situated on level pastureland about 350m W of the Owenascaul river. The external fosse is c. 2.5m wide and a maximum of 1m deep below the external ground level, but is not traceable along the E sector. The earthen enclosing bank rises a maximum of 1.5m above the fosse and 1m above the interior, and along much of the E sector it has been faced externally with drystone masonry. The herring-bone style of sections of this latter suggests that it is, at least in part, a late feature. It is not clear where the original entrance lay. For a distance of 10m at S, there is no internal height to the bank, but the interior is raised c. 1m above the external ground level and there is no trace of a ramp. There is a 3m wide break in the bank at NE which has been partly closed by a stone wall and there is a 1.1m wide break at W, at which point the fosse is only barely perceptible. Directly S of the latter gap, the low and grass-grown foundations of a rectangular or D-shaped structure abut the inner face of the bank. It measures c. 3.5m E-W x 4.5m N-S internally. The souterrain lies near the centre of the enclosure and the visible section consists of a short stretch of passage aligned NNE-SSW, at the SSW end of the ESE wall of which a porthole slab formerly provided access to a D-shaped chamber. The passage is 1.5m wide, .5m high and 2.5m long at present, but both ends are blocked by collapse. The collapse of portion of the roof at SSW provides the only means of access to the passage but it has also blocked the entrance to the chamber. The chamber measures c. 3.75m NNW-SSE x 1.75m WSW-ENE x 1m in height and at present access is provided by a hole in the roof at the SE corner. Both sections of the souterrain are of neat drystone construction, the roof being formed by a series of large flags. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 373. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 6 August 2013