Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Fán

Cathair Nua: This cashel was situated on the lower S slopes of Mount Eagle overlooking Dingle Bay. The field in which it was located has been cleared and enlarged and only a very small section of the enclosure wall survives where it was incorporated into a field fence. Several accounts of the site exist, but there is much disagreement between them as to its composition. On the 1st edition of the OS map it is shown as a circular enclosure with 3 huts in the interior, and in the OSM it was described as a stone fort with clochauns in such ruinous condition that their plan could not be determined. Du Noyer (1858, 6-7) later described the cashel as 'about 75 feet (22.8m) in diameter, consisting of a circular stone-wall 8 feet (2.4m) thick, the exterior of which inclines from the base upwards and appears to have terminated in a parapet'. The 4 foot (1.2m) wide entrance faced E. The foundations of 3 conjoined circular huts occupied much of the interior. The easternmost measured 17 feet (5m) in diameter internally and its entrance faced SE. A short distance to S of the entrance, a narrow entrance passage led to a very small circular apartment. A 2nd passage at W led into a 3rd hut, 16 feet (4.87m) in diameter. On the 2nd edition of the OS map (1895) the site is shown as roughly oval in plan and 7 circular structures are marked in the interior. Macalister (1899, 238-9) later commented that, though Du Noyer's description of the enclosing wall was correct, the remainder of his account bore little resemblance to the actual remains. According to Macalister, the enclosure measured 80 to 105 feet (24m to 32m) in diameter and contained about 10 heaps of stones, some of which may formerly have been clochauns, and the foundations of a pair of conjoined huts with a souterrain. The main hut was entered from the E and the smaller 2nd chamber abutted its NE side. The souterrain was roughly T-shaped in plan and was comprised of 2 oval chambers set at right angles to one another and linked by a short creepway. The entrance occured at the SW end of chamber 1 and opened onto the interior of the main hut at its NE side. Chamber 1 was aligned SW-NE and measured 3.8m x 1.37m x 1.5m high. The creep way was 1m long x .5m wide x .5m high. The 2nd chamber measured 3.65m long x 1.3m wide x 1.58m high. There was a cupboard recess at the SE end of chamber 2. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 675. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013