Ring Forts
PROMONTORY FORTS IN NORTHERN COUNTY KERRY.
It may be well to give a condensed account of the numerous ring-forts lying along the coast in Iraghticonnor. We pass several, some with rings and fosses, others merely banks 5 feet to 8 feet high, between Beal Castle and Kilconly Church.
One, with a fosse and slight outer mound, lies between the latter and Poulaphuca ; a very small mound lies near it in another field to the south-west. The adjoining town-lands are very rich in lisses, but, so far as I saw or visited them, of very little interest. Lissanookera, and half of a two-ringed fort, lie in Beal "West. Lisnapeastia, a large low fort, is found in Gullane, near Kilconly Church, with which (as we saw) local legend connects it. It, too, has a small mound, like a satellite, to the east. Lisheenroe, " little red fort," and at least seven others lie near the last, with a pillar called Cloughlea, "the grey stone." We noted in Faha townland, Lissard, Lissahope, and Lisnaraha ; Lisroe, and two others, all small, lie beyond the Coosheen, or Glenchoor stream, in Drom, and one with a " cave " or souterrain in Trippul, the last fort cut through by a " bohereen." Lisglass (green fort) is in Tullabeg ; llathfinnoge (scald-crow's rath) in Rahavanig townland, a less accurate form of its name ; Lisnaparka is in Tullatnore, a large fort with a fosse ; Lahardaun has a liss bearing the same name.
Red- 33 Ring Forts Green - 2 Burial Grounds Purple - 2 Standing Stone sites
Panorama view from inside a ringfort. Beal, Co. kerry.
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Listen to Micháel Ó Cuilleanain speaking
about ringforts in Ireland.
Radio Kerry Broadcast - 27th December 2012
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FORTS.—According to the Ordnance Survey there are 10,000 of these in Munster, and about 30,000 may be taken as the number for the whole of Ireland. The peasantry hold them in superstitious reverence, and they used to be regarded in times not very remote as the abode of the fairies. They are called Danish forts by the people of the country, but they are to be found where the Danes never settled, and it is beyond dispute that fort-building was practised by the Irish long before the time of the Danes. It is probable enough that the Danes constructed some of them, and the popular belief may have arisen from the fact that many of them were raised in defence against the attacks of the Danes, and hence may be called Danish forts.
The construction is simple. A deep trench was dug, and the earth thrown up, forming a steep enclosing rampart. They vary in size from a few yards to one hundred in diameter. They were for the most part built on hills, rocky headlands, or steep cliffs. The most of them have underground passages and chambers. These were used as storehouses and as a place of refuge for women and children in case of sudden attack. It is probable that the chief and his clan repaired to their fort in time of disturbance, and there protected themselves and their cattle and goods.
ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND 1910