Ballynavenooragh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ballynavenooragh |
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| Native name Irish: Baile na bhFionnúrach |
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| Type | stone ringfort with clocháns and souterrain |
| Etymology | Irish: "settlement of the white hills" |
| Location | Ballynavenooragh, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry |
| Built | 7th–10th centuries AD |
| Owner | state |
| Official name: Cathair na BhFionnúrach Stone fort, huts & souterrain; Ballynavenooragh Stone fort & hut | |
| Reference no. | 221.0712 |
Ballynavenooragh (which in Irish is Cathair na bhFionnúrach) is an amazing ancient stone fort. It is located in County Kerry, Ireland. This special place is protected as a National Monument. It gives us a peek into how people lived long ago.
Contents
Ballynavenooragh is a type of ancient fort called a cashel. A cashel is a circular stone fort. This one has an inside area about 27 meters wide. It was used a long time ago, between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. People even used it again in the 13th century. It's quite similar to another stone fort called Leacanabuaile.
You can find Ballynavenooragh on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. It's about 10 kilometers north of Dingle town. The fort sits on the western side of Mount Brandon. The area around Ballynavenooragh is full of history. There are about 40 other circular forts (called ringforts). You can also find 24 stone huts (called clocháns) and 2 small ancient burial grounds (called cillíní).
Archaeologists studied Ballynavenooragh in the late 1990s. A person named Erin Gibbons led these important digs. They found many clues about the people who lived there. These discoveries help us understand their daily lives.
What Did Archaeologists Find Here?
During the excavations, archaeologists found a pit with old plant remains. These included seeds from apples, blackberryes, hazelnuts, and grapes. This tells us what foods they might have eaten.
They also found many tools and objects. These included stone tools and pieces of pottery. They discovered iron knives and a pretty blue glass bead. There were also fragments of crucibles, which are special pots used for melting metals. Two silver coins from the 13th century were found. These were pennies from the time of King Henry III. They also found two objects that were shaped on a lathe. This shows they had skilled craftspeople.
The people who built the fort used wood for posts. They used alder and willow trees. This was likely because there wasn't much oak wood in that area.
Exploring the Fort: What's Inside?
The stone fort itself has several interesting parts. Inside the main stone wall, you can see two clocháns. These are small, beehive-shaped stone huts. There is also a fireplace, which was important for cooking and warmth.
Another cool feature is a souterrain. This is an underground passage or tunnel. The souterrain at Ballynavenooragh has an oblong-shaped room. This room is about 5.5 meters long. The fort also has several holes where wooden posts once stood. There are also stepped terraces built into the ground. The main gate of the fort was made with tall, upright stone slabs.
