Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database CO138-012 (None)
NMR: CO 138 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 480316 Y: 536475 (IRENET95)
This coastal promontory is situated c. 2km SW of Kilcrohane Village on the W coast of Co. Cork. The headland is adjacent to Foillmore cliff and Westropp notes that is locally referred to as 'the island of Dooneen' (1921, 106). It is depicted on the first edition OS six-inch map (1842) as an enclosed headland. It can be described as a small triangular area of land (L 24m by 28m Wth) approximately 0.10ha that projects E into Dunmanus Bay at an altitude of 23m OD. The promontory is defended at the neck by a curving, partially stone-faced earthen bank (H 3.7m) with an external ditch measuring 2.4m in depth. There is a single break in the bank on the S side (Wth 2.4m) with a rough causeway across the ditch. Westropp notes that the rampart was 'cut by a gap, with a high narrow roadway, only wide enough for a cart to go inside across the ditch, which was about as deep as the mound was high' (1921,106-7). The interior gradually slopes E to the cliffs and a low earthen bank is visible along the N side c. 0.4m in height. The site is much overgrown today, particularly along the defences and on the S side to the cliff edge.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -1082748 Y: 6722407 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -9.726490901855852 Latitude: 51.568104270248895 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Cork
Historic County: Cork
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dooneen
Much of the site remains intact
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Parts of the interior and the defences are 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 triangular area of land projects E into Dunmanus Bay, defended on the W side by a curving bank and external ditch. It is situated at an altitude of 23m OD near Foillmore cliff, a number of low peninsulas with little headlands and creeks.
| 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: E-facing promontory
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✓ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 23.0m
N/A
There is no dating available for the site
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 as hachured triangular area. Westropp notes that the 'high mound and fosse are curved, and bushes grow on the former; inside is a level garth with long grassy slopes down to the cliffs. The rampart, I was told, was about as high as a man, very steep and cut by a gap with a narrow roadway' (1921, 106). The site was visited and inspected by the Cork Archaeological Survey in 1985 for the compilation of the Archaeological Inventory of West Cork. They noted that the bank was partially faced and an additional bank was evident in the interior along the N side (Power et al. 1992, 127).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1904): | OS six-inch mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1921): | 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 | ✗ |
The side is accessed through a single gap in the bank on the S side with a rough causeway across the external ditch. Although it cannot be confirmed whether this is an original entrance to the fort, the causeway across the fosse may add support to this interpretation.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South): | Single break in the bank on the S side with a rough casueway across the ditch. |
The promontory is defended at the neck by a curving, partially stone-faced earthen bank (H 3.7m) with an external ditch (D 2.4m). There is a single break in the bank on the S side (Wth 2.4m) with a rough causeway across the ditch.
| Area 1: | 0.05ha. |
| Total: | 0.05ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.1ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | Single curving ditch on W side running in a N-S direction. Recorded depth of 2.4m. Rough causeway crosses the ditch to the S. |
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. 1921. The promontory forts of Beare and Bantry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 51, 1-16, 101-16.
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