Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database WA025-072 (None)
NMR: WA 025 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 649963 Y: 598697 (IRENET95)
This coastal promontory is located c. 0.5km SE of Annestown, Co. Waterford adjacent to Annestown Strand. Marked as an ÇEntrenchment' on the first edition (1841) six-inch map, the promontory can be described as a grass-covered rectangular area measuring c. 50m NE-SW by c. 15-24m NW-SE that projects S from the mainland into the Atlantic at an altitude of 7m OD. The internal area may have once been larger if Brown's Island, now a series of offshore stacks separated from the promontory by the sea, was once connected to the fort. Westropp notes that two portions of the headland Çhad been successively cut off by the collapse of natural arches and from the Green islands' (1914, 209). The promontory is cut off on the landward side by an earthen bank measuring 7.2m in width and 1.5m in height internally. An external ditch measures 1.6m wide at the base and 1.6m deep. An outer bank is also recorded (Wth 6.5m; H 1.1m) with an associated external ditch (Wth c. 4m; D 0.65m). The entrance to the interior is recorded at the SE end of the outer bank and both ditches. There are no recorded internal features (Westropp 1906, 253-4; 1914-16, 209; Moore 1999).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -809306 Y: 6825093 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -7.270123551884787 Latitude: 52.13787150388692 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Waterford
Historic County: Waterford
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Woodstown
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 rectangular area that projects SW from the mainland into the Atlantic at an altitude of 7m OD, and may once in remote antiquity have been linked to a series of offshore stacks.
| 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: 7.0m
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 notes that the headland was once of considerable size; 'Two portions have been cut through by the sea, and a narrow arch is drilled through the centre fragment. Owing to the extreme narrowness of the southern channel, it is evident that the splitting of the Green Island' (Westropp 1906, 253).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1840): | OS six-inch mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1906): | Westropp |
| Earthwork Survey (1989): | Moore |
| Other (None): | Westropp |
There are no recorded internal features
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 entrance to the interior is recorded at the SE end of the outer bank and both ditches. It cannot be confirmed if this is an original entrance.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (North east): | None |
The promontory is cut off on the landward side by an earthen bank (Wth 7.2m; int. H 1.5m; ext. H 2.2m) and outer ditch (Wth at base 1.6m; ext. D 1.6m). An external bank is also recorded (Wth 6.5m; H 1.1m) with an associated external ditch (Wth c. 4m; D 0.65m).
| Area 1: | 0.12ha. |
| Total: | 0.12ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.25ha.
None
| ✗ | The internal area may have once been considerably larger if Browns Island, separated from the promontory by the sea, was once connected to the fort. Westropp notes that two portions of the headland «had been successively cut off by the collapse of natural arches and from the Green islands (1914, 209). |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 2 |
| 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