Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Ardraw

Internal diam. 24m N-S, 22.8m E-W This well-preserved bivallate rath is located on a low hilltop which is bounded on three sides by a meander of the Laune river. There are unrestricted views from it in all directions. This site is noted as 'Ard Rath' in the OSNB (Knockane, 30), but is called 'Ardagh Fort' on the OS Fair Plans. It consists of two earthen banks with an intervening fosse, and a short stretch of an outer fosse at NE. Traces of this external fosse are visible only on aerial photographs. The outer bank rises to a maximum external height of 1.7m. Elsewhere it averages 1.5m in external height and 8m in basal width. Slippage of both banks may account for much of their basal widths and the V-shaped cross-section of the intervening fosse. The outer bank is 3.7m high above the base of this fosse, which averages 2.1m wide. The inner bank rises 4.5m above the fosse and 1.2m above the interior of the rath. A causewayed entrance at NW gives access to the interior, the gaps in the inner and outer banks being 2.5m and 3m wide respectively. The interior of the rath is planted with trees. A stone-built souterrain (KE057-075001-) was discovered in the W half of the site's interior in 1904 when sections of its roof collapsed (Cooke 1906, 3-4). The exposed portions comprised two passages. The larger passage was aligned NE-SW, was 12 feet (3.55m) long and varied from 6 feet (1.75m) to 2 feet (.6m) wide. Its lintelled roof was 5 feet 6 inches (1.6m) below the level of the interior of the rath. The second passage, close by, was aligned roughly N-S and measured 4 feet (1.2m) long by 4 feet (1.2m) wide. The passages were described by the CKFC as 'torn up and damaged . . . the stones which formed them thrown about' (1940, 153-4). Among these was 'a horseshoe-shaped stone of a crawl doorway', which probably was a porthole slab or arch stone of the type found in the souterrains at Kimego West (KE079-016----) and Kealduff Upper (KE071-006----). No surface trace of the souterrain is now apparent. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 454. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013