Near Beal in north County Kerry, a univallate rath sits in the landscape in a state of near-total obscurity, not because it is lost or destroyed, but simply because nobody could get to it. When surveyors visited, the site was completely inaccessible, and no measurements were taken.

A univallate rath is a ringfort enclosed by a single earthen bank and ditch, the most common type of early medieval settlement in Ireland. Hundreds of thousands were built across the country, mostly between roughly 500 and 1000 AD, serving as enclosed farmsteads for families of some local standing. This particular example lies immediately to the north-east of another recorded site in the area, and a small stream runs along its western sector, which may go some way towards explaining why access proved so difficult. Water, overgrowth, and the particular logic of the Kerry countryside have, between them, kept it effectively off-limits to formal measurement.