Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database WA025-069002 (None)
NMR: WA 025 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 647355 Y: 598293 (IRENET95)
The site is located on the S coast of Co. Waterford between the villages of Bunmahon and Annestown. Marked as an ÇEntrenchment' on the first edition OS six-inch map (1840), it is situated on the promontory of Dunbrattin Head projecting SW into Dunbrattin Bay and Trawnamurraoge Cove at an altitude of 16m OD. Positioned on a grass-covered promontory located off the W side of the interior of a larger promontory fort (WA025-069001), it slopes down to the SW with overall dimensions of c. 18m NE-SW. It is cut off at the landward side by a V-shaped ditch running in a NW-SE direction for approximately 14m (Wth 7m; ext. D 2.7m; int. D 2.3m). It is accompanied by an internal bank and a causeway is also recorded (Wth 1.4m). A possible souterrain (WA025-069007-) recorded by Tracey (1983) is likely to be a natural fault in the rock described by Westropp. There are no other recorded internal features.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -813553 Y: 6824476 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -7.308275259817844 Latitude: 52.13446991280889 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Waterford
Historic County: Waterford
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dunbrattin
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 | ✗ |
Small coastal promontory located on a grass-covered headland positioned on the W side of the interior of a larger promontory fort (WA025-069001). It slopes down to the SW into Trawnamurraoge Cove at an altitude of 16m OD.
| 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: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✓ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 16.0m
N/A
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 |
The site is marked as an 'Entrenchment' on the second edition 6-inch OS map. Surveyed by Westropp in 1914 who notes that the name is 'the same as 'Dunbarton, meaning the Briton's (Welshman's) fort' (1914-16, 223). He records this site as 'a lesser fortified head on the west flank...with a very slight ditch and low weatherworn mounds' (1914-16, 224). Site visited and inspected in 1989 for the compilation of the Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford (Moore 1999, 66).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1900): | Second edition 6-inch map |
| Earthwork Survey (1989): | Moore |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (None): | Westropp |
A possible souterrain (WA025-069007-) recorded by Tracey (1983) is likely to be a natural fault in the rock (Moore 1999, 66). There are no other recorded internal features.
A spring is recorded on the second edition OS 6-inc map outside the main headland to the N.
| 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 entrance can be recorded as a simple gap through the low bank with an external causeway over the ditch. It measures 1.4m in width.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | Causeway across the ditch |
Headland is cut off at the landward side by a V-shaped ditch running in a NW-SE direction for approximately 14m (Wth 7m; ext. D 2.7m; int. D 2.3m) and accompanied by an internal bank. A causeway is also recorded (Wth 1.4m).
| Area 1: | 0.07ha. |
| Total: | 0.07ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.12ha.
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 |
| ✓ | V-shaped ditch running in a NW-SE direction for approximately 14m (Wth 7m; ext. D 2.7m; int. D 2.3m) |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Moore, M. 1999. Archaeological inventory of County Waterford, 64-8. The stationary Office, Dublin.
Tracey, C.M 1983. Possible souterrain at Dunbrattin Head. Decies 24, 37-9
Westropp, T.J. 1914-16 Fortified headlands and castles on the south coast of Munster: Part II, from Ardmore to Dunmore, Co. Waterford. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 32C, 188-227.
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