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Promontory fort

Promontory fort, coastal

What is recorded here

Two sharp fingers of land jut forty metres into the sea beside Tonalassa, one a narrow triangle cut off by a straight earthen bank and the other a broad rectangle marked by twin shallow ditches. Neither shows an entrance gap, suggesting the fort closed itself against invasion rather than inviting trade or visitation. The surrounding pasture is fertile and drained, hinting that human hands shaped both the defence and the fields long before the fort fell silent.
Promontory fort described in 2002 as follows; 'Two fingers of land jut out 40m from a broad headland immediately south of ‘Tonalassa’ promontory fort [KE004-003----]. The northerly [KE004-066----] of the two is shaped like a narrow triangle and is cut off from the main promontory by a straight 1.5m wide earthen bank and shallow external fosse. The other headland [KE004-067----] has two shallow ditches 1m wide 5m apart running across the westerly extremity of the promontory. This headland is subrectangular in plan, measuring 18m in width. Neither has any trace of an entrance gap and evidence of earlier cultivation ridges is visible on the southernmost headland. The earthen bank running along the coastline does not include either headland. The area generally is one of gently undulating fertile cleared and drained pasture. The barrow immediately to the east has been wrongly described in the archaeological survey as a rath [KE004-004----]' (Casey 2002, 27, no. G).

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What survives
Recorded monument

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