Listernan Co Cavan

Murray007

I am trying to find out more about a three ring hill fort at the town land of Listernan, kildallan, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.

It is listed in the Archeological survey of Co Cavan.

Things I would like to know is who build it, when and for what use.

Obviously Listernan, is Tiernans fort. Who was Tiernans.

Any information would be appreciated.

Jeefff

Kildalan is a short drive from me, it's very hilly land around here and the highest spots were chosen as ring forts for defence purposes.. I have a ringfort next to me, it ligns up perfectly with the other forts in the area, there could be five miles between some of them, but they can all see each other, well they could when they weren't tree covered..
Alot of these forts had (souterains?) can't spell it, they were tunnels from inside the fort that led underground to a safe place nearby, alot of them were destroyed due to ploughing. Theses tunnels also served for holding valuables such as medicines etc..
I've been on three locally, and they're simply a tree covered mound with a distinct ring of soil around them, nothing spectacular..

jonniebgood1

The souterrains were also used for refuge from attack and storing foods (due to the cooler underground temperature).

There is a good description here http://enniscronearchaeology.com/souterrains.html

I was down one of these years ago near Oldcastle in Co. Meath. Firstly for safety reasons people are not supposed to go down these.
THe entrance to the passage was small- we had to crawl into it. Once in the passage it was about 3-4 feet high and about 2 foot wide. The gradient changed and at several points the head height went down so it was necessary to crawl. At the end was a larger open area. The length of the passage was shorter than some described souterrains, approx. 100 metres long from the side of the ringfort.