Indicated — Lonart

This record was formerly classed as fortifications in the RMP. Following a site inspection, its class has been changed to possible jetty. See description below According to John Sheehan (20/3/2008), Dr. R. Devoy, U.C.C., mentions this area in his chapter in the Iveragh Atlas book (forthcoming). Devoy says that an attempt was made in the 18th to reclaim much of this area. So John Sheehan thinks it is possible that the walls etc. in this area were part of that reclamation. John says that it was the townland name suggested a longphort. If the remains at Lonart are associated with C18th activity, it is best that this is considered a post 1700 monument, pending more definite evidence. (Sheila Ronan 20/3/2008) According to Devoy, 'Political and social upheavals apart, this sea dependent rural life has continued for millennia in coastal Iveragh much the same, in essence, to the present. But, with the eighteenth century, and thereafter, began a change in the scale of human impacts. Many coastal areas around Ireland at this time came under the influence of formal land reclamation schemes and building projects, following an earlier medieval pattern of more localised reclamation, as in the Shannon estuary. On Iveragh, some of the inner areas of bays and estuaries were embanked and the contained marsh and saltings drained and used for agriculture, with variable success. The marshes of Castlemaine Harbour provide a good example of this process. Low earth and stone embankments were built here from the 1750s and the new land used for tillage (including crops of 'corn' and potatoes). At Rossbeigh, c.162 hectares of marsh, mud and sand flats were drained between 1819 and 1822, the scheme involving re-routing the outlet of the Behy River. But, by 1844, the action of storms and changed agriculture and land values had led to the abandonment of this intake. Piecemeal reclamation schemes, however, continued elsewhere in Castlemaine Harbour well into the twentieth century, but by the 1850s many of the earlier embankments had been abandoned and the sea flooded back. Shallow plough lines and the remains of these embankments are still visible in the marshes. [6, 24]'. At the S end of a flat, rush-covered promontory protruding N into the shallow waters at the S side of Castlemain Harbour. The roughly oval promontory, liable to flooding at high tides, consists mainly of deep bog, with intermittent, tidal channels (Wth 1.5-4m; D 1-2m) extending along the perimeter W-E giving the impression of an outer bank (Wth c. 2-5m). This 'outer bank' is a bog bank. Tidal, mud-bottomed channels also occur throughout the interior of the promontory. A straight, tidal channel (Wth 2-3.5m and indicated on the OS 6-inch map) runs almost N-S through the middle of the promontory as far as the stone field boundary at S, after which the ground begins to rise. The eroding banks at the S end of this channel display quantities of smaller, rounded stones 0.3-1m below ground level and rising to 0.2-0.5m above the mud at the bottom of the channel. Occasional larger stones along the edge suggest a wall with a core of smaller, sea-rounded stones. From here, an E-W channel runs to the W through the bog for c. 25m and links with a wider N-S channel. Here, what appears to be the eroded remains of the top of a slightly curving wall (Wth c. 3m; L 20m), of similar rounded stones, protrudes above the mud (H 0.3m) and can be seen disappearing into the bank (D 0.2-0.3m below ground level) at both N and S ends. (By using a ranging rod the stones can be traced for a short distance beneath the surface of the non-eroded banks). The mud at the bottom of the channel, on both sides of the remains of the walls, is at least 1m and possibly more deep. This entire site extends over a roughly square area (c. 30m x c. 30m) abutting the N side of the roughly E-W stone field boundary. This may be the remains of a man made jetty or harbour. The townland name Lonart (Long Phort) is also significant. The main N-S channel running through the promontory and shown on the OS map may have been the passage through which boats entered the sheltered harbour or jetty at high tide. It is unclear if the 'outer bank' along the perimeter of the promontory W-E would have acted as a shelter for tying up boats. This site merits further investigation.