Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database CO136-043 (None)
NMR: CO 136 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 552283 Y: 541821 (IRENET95)
The coastal promontory is situated c. 1km SE of Courtmacsherry town on the W coast of Co. Cork. It can be described as a small triangular area of land (30m by 26m) approximately 0.07ha in extent that projects SW from the mainland and runs parallel to it, between Fox's Cove and Beamish's Cove at an altitude of 10m OD. The promontory is defended at the landward side by an arching earthen bank with an exterior height of 4.7m and a deep ditch 4.1m in depth. There is also evidence of a counterscarp bank, c. 1.3m in height that is incorporated into a surrounding field boundary. Westropp (1914, 107) recorded 'a deep curved fosse' across neck and 'a fenced interior', measuring '69ft in each direction being nearly circular'. There is no record of an entrance or break in the bank. The interior is much eroded and collapsing into the sea and currently much overgrown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -967278 Y: 6732933 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -8.689205995348008 Latitude: 51.626839911948714 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Cork
Historic County: Cork
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Courtmacsherry
While much of the promontory is extant, the interior has been heavily eroded by the sea.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
The interior and defences are heavily overgrown with scrub and bracken.
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
The fort is located on the low shore of Fox's Cove in an area consisting of grassy drift banks on low rocks to the W of Courtmacsherry Bay. It is situated at an altitude of 10m OD projecting SW from the mainland and defended by a large bank and external ditch.
| 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: 10.0m
N/A
The site is not dated.
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 |
Depicted on first edition OS six-inch map (1842) as 'Portadooneen Fort'. Noted as a possible fort by James Buckley in 1913. Surveyed by Westropp in the earlier twentieth century who describes it as a 'little headland over 60 feet high; across the neck runs a deep curved fosse...evidently a natural hollow cut into shape and 10 feet deep. The site was visited and inspected by the Cork Archaeological Survey in 1985 for the compilation of the Archaeological Inventory of West Cork (Power et al. 1992).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1842): | OS six-inch mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1913): | James Buckley |
| Earthwork Survey (1914): | Thomas Westropp |
| Earthwork Survey (1985): | Cork Archaeological Survey |
There are no recorded features within the interior of the fort.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
There are no recorded entrances or breaks through the rampart.
| 0: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
The promontory is defended at junction with mainland by an arching bank with an exterior height of 4.7m and a deep ditch 4.1m in depth. There is also evidence of a counterscarp bank, c. 1.3m in height that is incorporated into a surrounding field boundary.
| Area 1: | 0.03ha. |
| Total: | 0.03ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.7ha.
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 |
| ✓ | Deep curved ditch running across the neck of the headland. Natural hollow cut into shape, recorded to a depth of 4.1m. |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Power, D., Byrne, E., Egan, U., Lane, S., and Sleeman, M. 1992. Archaeological Inventory of County Cork Volume 1: West Cork, 126-130. The stationary Office, Dublin.
Westropp, T.J. 1914. Fortified headlands and castles on the south coast of Munster. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 32C, 104-105.
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