Loher Stone Fort

On the lower slopes of Farraniaragh Mountain on the Ring of Kerry, between Caherdaniel and Waterville, Loher's restored drystone fort looks out over Ballinskelligs Bay towards Sceilg Mhichíl on the horizon. Probably a defended farmstead, it is enclosed by a wall up to four metres thick at the base and over three metres high inside, climbed by seven sets of steps set into its inner face, and entered by a paved, lintelled passage four metres long. Inside are the foundations of two drystone houses, one round and one rectangular, and the entrance to a souterrain opens within the round house. Excavations in the early 1980s found earlier timber and stone buildings beneath, the rectangular house replacing a round one built of stakes. Cup-marked rocks just outside the fort are thought to be older still, in a Neolithic tradition. Reviewers often have the fort to themselves, but warn that the lane up is steep and single-track, ending at a tiny parking area a minute's walk above the fort.