Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database WA025-073 (None)
NMR: WA 025 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 651775 Y: 598240 (IRENET95)
This coastal promontory is located c. 2km W of Annestown in Co. Waterford. The headland, marked as an 'entrenchment' on the second edition six-inch OS map, can be described as a grass-covered landmass measuring 120m N-S by 90m E-W that projects S from the mainland at an altitude of 14m OD. It is cut off on the landward side by a 40m ditch running in a NE-SW direction across the neck of the promontory. The ditch measures 0.5m in depth and 5m in width and Westropp records a 'spring and stream in its eastern reach' (1914-16, 210). A central causeway measuring 2.7m in width crosses the ditch. An inner bank (c. 4m in Width) described by Westropp as '10 feet to 12 feet wide, once 5 feet to 6 feet higher than the fosse' has since been removed. He notes that Çthe works were dug away partly to make fences along the dangerously crumbling precipices' (1914, 210). Furthermore, he observed that a recent fire had cleared the interior of the site and no hut-sites were evident. The site is currently overgrown.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -806368 Y: 6824318 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -7.243725260093659 Latitude: 52.13359722095133 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Waterford
Historic County: Waterford
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kilfarrasy
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 | ✗ |
The coastal promontory can be described as a grass-covered headland measuring 120m N-S by 90m E-W that projects S from the mainland at an altitude of 14m OD. It is cut off on the landward side by a 40m ditch running in a NE-SW direction across the neck of the promontory. An Inner bank was also recorded by Westropp (1906; 1914-16), but this is no longer evident (Moore 1999).
| 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: 14.0m
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 promontory along with its defences are depicted on the first edition OS six-inch map (1840) and it is marked as an 'entrenchment' on the second edition. Inspected by Westropp in 1906 who describes the defences as consisting of a 'fosse 12 feet wide, which is still marshy or full of water for most of its extent' running in a straight line across the headland. He also notes an inner mound or bank 10 feet or 12 feet wide, but only visible in a few places' (Westropp 1906, 254-55). When the site was surveyed as part of the Waterford Archaeological inventory, this bank was no longer visible (Moore 1999, 69)
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1840): | six-inch OS mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1906): | Westropp |
| Earthwork Survey (1989): | Moore |
| Earthwork Survey (None): | Westropp |
There are no recorded features within the interior of the site. A possible spring/stream was noted by Westropp during an investigation by him in 1914 (Westropp 1914-16, 210).
Westropp records a 'spring and stream' in the E side of the ditch (1914-16, 210)
| 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 | ✗ |
A central causeway measuring 2.7m in width crosses the ditch. A gap in the bank is also depicted in a sketch plan by Westeropp (1906, 254). It cannot be confirmed whether this is an original entrance.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North): | None |
The headland is cut off on the landward side by a 40m ditch running in a NE-SW direction across the neck of the promontory. The ditch measures 0.5m in depth and 5m in width. An inner bank (c. 4m in Width) described by Westropp as '10 feet to 12 feet wide, once 5 feet to 6 feet higher than the fosse' has since been removed.
| Area 1: | 0.85ha. |
| Total: | 0.85ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.36ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | Bank was recorded in 1914. No longer evident |
| 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 | ✗ |
Bank was recorded in 1914. No longer evident, but ditch is still visible
| 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 |
| ✓ | 40m ditch running in a NE-SW direction across the neck of the promontory.The ditch measures 0.5m in depth and 5m in width. |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | 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