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Promontory fort

Promontory fort, coastal

What is recorded here

Six headlands south of Dún an Óir still wear faint neck-cutting banks and ditches, suggesting people once trimmed the coast into defensible points. The northernmost two keep low earthen ridges and a levelled drystone wall, while the southernmost holds a curving filled ditch. The middle two show newer banks beside vague older marks. Together they form a coastal strip where human hands may have shaped the land into fortlike places, though the sea and time have erased most of the proof.
Possible promontory fort described in 2002 as follows; 'A series of six headlands along the coast south of Dún an Óir all show very slight evidence of having been cut off from the mainland by either earthen banks or ditches. The two northernmost ones have low earthen banks and a levelled drystone wall crossing the neck. The adjacent broad rectangular one has the remains of a wide levelled straight bank and faint fosse across the neck while the southernmost one has a slightly curving filled-in fosse defending it. Recent earthen banks cut off the middle two, but vague evidence of earlier defences is also visible. Not enough remains to ascertain the exact nature of the remains but all headlands are potential promontory forts that deserve further investigation' (Casey 2002, 68 DD).

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What survives
Recorded monument

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