Field system in Knockfennell

Field system attached to NW side of ringfort (LI032-014003-) which is a National monument in state ownership No. 247. Situated on S facing slope or rising ground at the base of Knockfennel Hill, now standing 40m N of the NW shoreline of Lough Gur. On the first edition of the OS 6-inch map the ringfort is shown standing on the edge of the shoreline of Lough Gur. Ringfort stands on N side of Lough Gur, S of Knockfennell and to the NE of Ardaghlooda Hill. Loughgur House stands 300m to NW. Cashel (LI032-014006-) 195m to N, adjacent field system (LI032-014004-), stone circle (LI032-014005-) and possible settlement platform (LI032-014002-) 50m to W. Garret Island in the centre of Lough Gur 180m to S, with crannóg (LI032-012----) 300m to W. In 1944 the D-shaped ringfort (LI032-014004-) with adjoining field system was described as following; 'The fort is partly carved out of the hill slope, which is steep on the N side of it and it is only on this side that a fosse occurs. On the S there is none as here the ground falls away from the monument and a certain amount of building up had to be done to make the structure approximately level, though it still has a considerable slope to the S. The entrance is not recognisable. It is 12' [3.6m] high on the S side and the max. diam. is 81' [25m]. The fort is the central feature of a system of ancient fences which cover the lower slopes of a hill on this side. These fences are mainly earthen and among them are discernible a number of small enclosures or huts. On the SE side of it is the arc of stones [LI032-014005-] described above' (O'Kelly 1944, 48). Described in 1978 as a 'ring-fort of platform type which has been partly scarped out of the slope of the ground. It is steepest on the north side where there is a bank and ditch and the ground falls away to the south, where a certain amount of building up had to be done. It measures 23m in average diam. It was excavated but is unpublished. The finds - ring pins, etc. implied an early Christian period date. The ringfort is at the centre of another system of ancient fields' (O'Kelly and O'Kelly 1978, 41-2). Today the outline of the roughly D-shaped ringfort with traces of a field system to NW are clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph. No hut sites mentioned by O'Kelly are visible on the aerial photographs. Earlier OSI aerial photographs show an extensive series of linear earthworks forming small irregular shaped fields in area to NW of ringfort. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 21 May 2018