Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database WA032-028001 (None)
NMR: WA 032 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 634945 Y: 595167 (IRENET95)
The site is located c. 3km SW of Stradbally town in Co. Waterford. It can be described as a grass-covered promontory (43m N-S by 12-18m E-W) barely projecting S from the mainland at an altitude of 18m OD. Outer earthworks marked on the first edition OS six-inch map to the NW had been levelled prior to 1906 when described by Wesropp (1906, 252). Headland enclosed on the N (landward side) by an external ditch measuring 13.4m in length by 3.8m in depth, a central earthen bank (Wth 7m; H over inner ditch 5.9m; H over outer ditch 3.1m) and internal ditch (Wth at top 9.2m; Wth at base 2.9m; D below exterior 4.1m). Entrance through the bank is thought to be modern in date (Westropp 1914-16, 218). A bank measuring 1.6m in height surrounds all sides of the promontory. Two possible hut sites are recorded in the interior of the promontory, both circular (int. dims. 5.2m by 4.1m; 7.8m by 6.9m). The headland is currently under pasture and is suffering badly from coastal erosion.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -833768 Y: 6819549 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -7.489862544811239 Latitude: 52.10729593115431 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Waterford
Historic County: Waterford
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Islandhubbock
Heavily eroded by the sea
| 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 | ✗ |
Grass-covered, coastal promontory barely projecting S from the mainland at an altitude of 18m OD. It is defended to the N (landward side) by an external ditch, a central earthen bank and internal 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: S-facing promontory
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✓ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 30.0m
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 |
The site is named as an 'Entrenchment' on the first edition (1840) six-inch OS map and is depicted as a circular hachured enclosure on the mainland, while separate defences are shown on the neck of the headland itself. Surveyed by Westropp in 1906 who notes that in 1840 'memory of, and evidently some trace of, a large entrenchment on the mainland, which has now entirely disappeared, its place being taken by modern fences' (1906, 252). He describes the site as an 'entrenched village on the cliff, with a citadel secure from any foe who did not take the trouble to blockade it' (Westropp 1906, 252). He also noted a massive rampart made of stone, much of it 'carted away by the former tennant' (1914, 219). No remains of this dry-stone wall are visible. Site visited and inspected in 1989 for the compilation of the Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford (Moore 1999, 66). No stonework noted in the make-up of the enclosing elements
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1840): | OS six-inch mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1906): | Westropp |
| Earthwork Survey (1989): | Moore |
| Earthwork Survey (None): | Westropp |
Two possible hut sites are recorded in the interior of the promontory, both of them circular (int. dims. 5.2m by 4.1m; 7.8m by 6.9m)
Westropp notes a stream falling over the cliff from a little spring close beside the fort.
| 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 | ✗ |
Westropp, along with a Mr. Ussher, found a 'block of dark brown sandstown, with some ogmic-like scores that could be read ''Amare" (Westropp 1914-16, 219).
| 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 | ✗ |
Entrance through the bank is thought ot be modern in date (Westropp 1914-16, 218)
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Defended to the N (landward side) by an external ditch measuring 13.4m in length by 3.8m in depth, a central earthen bank (Wth 7m; H over inner ditch 5.9m; H over outer ditch 3.1m) and internal ditch (Wth at top 9.2m; Wth at base 2.9m; D below exterior 4.1m). Outer earthworks marked on the first edition OS 6-inch map had been levelled prior to 1906 when described by Wesropp (1906, 252).
| Area 1: | 0.08ha. |
| Total: | 0.08ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.31ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 2
| ✗ | None |
Moore, M. 1999. Archaeological inventory of County Waterford, 64-8. The stationary Office, Dublin.
Westropp, T. J. 1906. Notes on certain Promontory Forts in the counties of Waterford and Wexford. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 36 (3), 239-25.
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