Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database DG107-052001 (None)
NMR: DG 107 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 586894 Y: 861610 (IRENET95)
This coastal promontory fort is located at 'Dungravenen' on the N side of the Erne estuary close to the town of Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. It is a roughly triangular headland that projects SW into the Erne Estuary and parallel with Gibby Point. It is cut-off at the landward side on the ENE by an earthen bank and a rock-cut ditch (c. 4.5m wide), drawn in a shallow arc for a distance of 40m from NW to SE. A gap in the bank and a causeway over the ditch may mark the location of a the entrance. Within the relatively level interior there is a horsehoe-shaped mound with a surrounding ditch, which is interpreted as a ring-barrow (DG107-052002). The only other recorded internal feature is a rock-cut souterrrain open in three places. Entry to the souterrain is gained from the S, where the passage is 0.47m deep and leads to a chanber running N and S and measuring 4.06m long, 0.75m high and 1.2m wide (Lacey 1983, 227); there is an opening to the surface at the N end of this. All the chambers and passage are roofed with flagstones. The promontory is currently under pasture.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -913081 Y: 7265952 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -8.202342425331798 Latitude: 54.502751258211475 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Donegal
Historic County: Donegal
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Townparks
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
This coastal promontory forms a roughly triangular headland of c. 0.35ha overall that projects SW into the Erne Estuary and parallel with Gibby Point. It is cut-off at the landward side by an earthen bank and a rock-cut ditch (c. 4.5m wide) running for approximately 4m in a NW-SE direction.
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✓ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✓ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: SW facing promontory
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✓ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 5.0m
N/A
There are no recorded internal features
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
The site is depicted as 'Dungravenen' on the second edition OS twenty-five-inch map. Surveyed during the early 1980s for the compilation of the archaeological inventory of Co. Donegal (Lacy 1983).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1913): | OS 25-inch map |
| Earthwork Survey (1983): | Brian Lacey (Donegal Archaeological Survey) |
A possible ring barrow is recorded towards the entrance of the promontory while elsewhere a rock-cut souterrain is open in three places. Entry to the souterrain is gained from the S, where the passage is 0.47m deep and leads to a chanber running N and S and measuring 4.06m long, 0.75m high and 1.2m wide (Lacey 1983, 227); there is an opening to the surface at the N end.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Souterrain and ring barrow
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A gap in the bank and a causeway over the ditch may mark the location of the entrance.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | None |
It is cut-off at the landward side by an earthen bank and a rock-cut ditch (c. 4.5m wide) running for approximately 40m in a NW/SE direction. There is no other information available as to the morphology of these features.
| Area 1: | 0.17ha. |
| Total: | 0.17ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.27ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Rock-cut ditch |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Lacey, B. 1983. Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. Lifford
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1