Cliff-edge fort in Arnasbrack

On the top of an E-W ridge at the edge of a N-facing limestone bluff overlooking Lough Dargan. A slightly raised roughly D-shaped area (dims. c. 30m ENE-WSW) with a straight N side (L 30m). The interior is defined on the straight side by the bluff and elsewhere by a ruined stone wall. The wall survives as a sod-covered stone bank (Wth c. 1.7m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.65m) but stones protruding in parts indicate that it is composed of a rubble core with internal and external stone facing. It is best-preserved NE-S but is very degraded and broken by numerous gaps SW-NW. The interior is level but uneven, broken by E-W bands of limestone pavement. A faint linear cropmark crosses the E edge of the interior on a NNW-SSE axis intersecting at the N end with a perpendicular line that can be traced for c. 10m to WSW across the N of the interior. These features may be the remains of later field boundaries. The cashel is located towards the W end of the cliff at a point where a series of broken terraces allow access to the base of the cliff and from there to the lakeshore. A cashel (SL021-046003-) is visible on a lower undulation of the same ridge c. 150m to SW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008