Dun Kilmore — Acaill Bheag

Situated on an area of hilly grassland on the western coast of Achillbeg Island. This site, called 'Dún Kilmore' on the OS maps. It is overlooked by higher ground to the E and the view along the coast is excellent. This is a complex promontory fort, consisting of an irregularly shaped headland measuring 290m by 120m which has been cut off from the mainland by earth and stone defences. Two subsidiary headlands in the interior were also defended while remains of hut sites, a ringfort and a children's burial ground lie within the main fortification. The outermost fortification consists of a curving stone wall standing on an earthen bank with an external fosse. The wall averages over 1m in height, reaching to a maximum of 1.3m. It is 0.95m in width and is in generally good condition except towards the S where it has collapsed and is now grassed over. A clearly defined gateway 0.8m wide and 1.2m high can be seen near the northern cliff edge, and many large limestone slabs lying about may be the remains of collapsed jambstones or a lintel. The wall seems to have been built upon an earthen bank 4m wide. A 6m wide fosse runs along the outside of the wall and bank. It is clearest towards the S where it is 1.5m below the outer ground level and also along the S a faint 1m wide 0.2m high counterscarp bank can be seen. The bank and wall stop abruptly at the southern cliff edge but they curve along the northern cliff edge to join the north eastern part the ringfort. This series of defences seem to have deteriorated since they were noted by Westropp (1912b, 29-33) who described a 9 feet high bank with a well-built revetting surviving up to 10 feet in height. Inside these defences lie the ill-defined remains of a straight bank of earth with inner stone revetting running diagonally across the neck of the headland. It is 6m wide at the base and only 0.9m high faint traces of an inner ditch visible. The northern of the two subsidiary headlands is marked on the OS maps as the 'Dangan'. It is roughly triangular in plan and measures 110m E-W by 45m N-S. Its narrow neck is defended by a 2.75m deep V-sectioned ditch 10m wide at the top and 2m wide at the base (MA075-001005-). There is no entrance causeway. A faint oval hollow measuring 6m by 3m lies outside the neck of the headland. The interior of this subsidiary headland is featureless. The southern of the two headlands is known as the 'Dun' and this measures 130m long by 45m wide. It is also defended by a series of banks and ditches (MA075-001003-) similar to those on the 'Dangan'. The straight defences are best preserved at the northern cliff edge where the ditch measures 1.8m in depth and is 7m wide. A 6m wide berm lies between this and a second V-sectioned ditch which is 1.4m deep and 1m wide at the base. Again two slight earthen banks lie to the E of the main defences. Within the berm lie the remains of a low circular structure, 9m in internal diameter and many slabs lying about the interior of this enclosure suggest it was of stone. This feature and its position on the isthmus is reminiscent of the Scottish broch or block-house tradition. The defences of both of the subsidiary headlands have deteriorated since being described by Westropp (1912b, 29-33; 1922a, 124). No trace of the mortar built structure which defended the 'Dangan' is visible and the revetting is barely visible. It is possible that part of the small cove that divides the two headlands was only cut after the headland was fortified and this may explain the lack of any entrance causeway and the partly eroded ringfort. In the E of the promontory fort, about 25m from the gateway lies a large sub-circular ringfort. It averages 70m in diameter inside and its northern part has fallen into the sea. It is best preserved along the W where its earthen bank measures 2m in width at the top, 6.5m at the base and it rises to 2.1m above the bottom of the ditch. The bank is of earth with both inner and outer stone revetting clearly visible. The flat bottomed ditch is 4m wide and lies on average 1.2m below the outer ground level. It has fallen into the sea at the southern extremity. Revetting is also visible along the outer edge of the ditch and a poorly defined counterscarp bank 1.5m wide and only 0.2m high is intermittently visible. Several sheep gaps cross the defences of the ringfort as do two well-defined entrance causeways. That at the E is 2.4m wide and is slab-lined while another one opposite it at the N-W measures 1.8m in width. In the interior of the ringfort lie the remains of a children's burial ground (MA075-001010-), an altar, a bullaun stone (MA075-001014-), one small rectangular building and up to six circular enclosures. The burial ground (MA075-001010-) lies near the entrance at the eastern end of the interior. It is slightly raised above ground level and is sub-rectangular in plan, measuring 14m by 11m. The E-W aligned graves were marked by plain limestone slabs averaging 0.24m high, 0.18m wide and 0.06m thick. Some of the neatly laid graves consist of cist-like structures 1m long and 0.6m wide. They are covered with limestone slabs. Near the western edge of the burial ground stands a slab-lined altar. It measures 2.2m square and was piled with white quartz pebbles. A bullaun stone (MA075-001014-) lies nearby. In the N-W quadrant of the ringfort lie the remains of a rectangular structure (MA075-001007-). It is aligned E-W and measures 8m by 7m. The walls consist of a low 1m wide grassed over collapsed stone wall. No entrance is visible. This may be the remains of the small church which gave its name to the headland. Along the inner bank of the ringfort are the remains of four stone hut-sites, each 3.5m in diameter, one of which has a clearly defined entrance. Between these and the rectangular building lie the insubstanial remains of two more hut sites. Besides some undulations in the ground along the northern and southern extremities of this part of the promontory fort, the interior is otherwise featureless. These descriptions are derived from the MA thesis of Markus Casey 1999 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland. A survey of counties Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Clare. Unpublished MA thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway. Date of upload: 5 December 2018