Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Dunkerron

Internal diam. 64.5m NW-SE This large but very poorly preserved caher, enclosing two huts and a souterrain, is not marked on the OS maps. It is located 370m SSW of Dunkerron Castle (KE092-026----) and about 500m N of Kenmare Bay. Trees restrict the views in all directions, but the mountains of the Beara Peninsula are visible to S. Traces of the enclosing wall, roughly D-shaped in plan, remain only from NW to SE. At NW a trackway, built in the 1960s, runs N-S through the site. Land improvement operations on the W side of this trackway have resulted in the levelling of the enclosing wall here. The extant section of wall survives as a band of stone collapse which is 4.5m wide and .4m high internally. It is flush with external ground level and much of its facing, of large flat slabs, was removed in the early 1990s (local information). From SE to WSW the limits of the enclosure are defined by a low limestone cliff, averaging 2.3m high. It is not clear if the enclosure wall originally continued along the upper edge of this cliff. The interior of the site is very disturbed and is occupied by scrub and recently planted trees. A pair of possibly conjoined huts are located close to the trackway, on its E side. That at S (KE092-035003-) survives as a roughly circular area of stone collapse which features a central depression, 5m in diameter. It has an overall diameter of 7.5m. The hut at N (KE092-035004-) measures 5.3m in internal diameter and its interior is filled with sod-covered rubble. Its poorly defined walls preserve some external drystone facing at SW and measure up to 2.7m wide. Recent disturbance is evident at SE. Extending from the SE side of the hut, and abutting the adjoining hut on its E side, is a band of stone collapse and rubble, 7.7m long and 4.5m wide. The blocked entrance to a drystone-built souterrain (KE092-035002-) is located in the NW internal wall-face of the N hut. Access is now gained about 3m to NW, through an opening formed by the removal of a number of roofing slabs of a NW-SE aligned passage. This passage, with slightly corbelled walls, extends for 9.6m and is .8m wide and .45m high. Collapse has considerably raised its floor level. At its NW end it turns towards W for a distance of 3.8m. Its N side-wall is regularly coursed, while that at S is formed from bedrock. Here the passage increases to 1.35m in height and 1m in width. At its W end is a lintelled creepway, .85m long, .55m wide and .6m high, the S side of which is formed by a single thick slab, set on end. The creepway gives access to another passage which continues W for a further 3.15m. A possible air vent is located midway along its S side. The passage, with coursed drystone walls which incline slightly inwards towards the roof, measures 1.4m high and .9m wide. It broadens at its W end, where it gives access at NW to an irregularly shaped natural limestone cave, 5.45m N-S x 6.3m E-W, which is host to a colony of bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros; information: M. O'Sullivan). The cave is on average 1m high, and features an uneven bedrock floor which slopes down to SE. A narrow rock-cut passage, 2.5m long, extends from its W end and leads into a small rectangular chamber, apparently also of natural origin. It measures approximately 3m by 1.5m. An accumulation of earth prevents access to its interior. A number of human bones removed from the floor of the larger cave in 1991 were identified as those of an adult aged at least thirty years (information: C. Power, UCC). Other bones, also reputedly human, were recovered from the cave in 1953 and were sent to England for 'inspection' (OPW). 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. 583. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 29 July 2013