Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database KE052-059001 (None)
NMR: KE 052 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 430847 Y: 598367 (IRENET95)
This coastal promontory, known locally as ÇAn D–n M†r' is located at Doonmore Point and projects W into the Blasket Sound at the extreme W tip of the Dingle Peninsula at an altitude of 32m OD. The site is not depicted on any edition of the OS six-inch maps but is the largest of the promontories in this area of Co. Kerry, measuring approximately 32.2 ha and rising to 100m OD. Access to the landmass is isolated at the neck by a bank and external ditch with a low outer bank running N and S across the headland for c. 500m. They are located at the base of the slope and are incorporated into the modern field boundary system with the inner bank surmounted by a stone-faced field fence (O'Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, 89). The defences are relatively insubstantial when compared to the size of the promontory, with the ditch 3.7-4.8m wide and 0.95m deep and the bank 4.5m wide and 1m high internally. On the summit of the interior is an ogham stone that reads ERC MAQI MAQI ERCAIS (MU) DOVINI (A). The stone's relationship to the fort is unclear. Macalister records that a souterrain, containing bones and a cross-inscribed stone was once uncovered on the headland (1899, 298-80), while two inhumation burials were found near the S end of the defences (Cuppage 1986, 67).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -1165487 Y: 6820274 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -10.469745854877951 Latitude: 52.11129406578776 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Kerry
Historic County: Kerry
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Coumeenoole
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 promontory is located at Doonmore Point and projects W into the Blasket Sound at the extreme W tip of the Dingle Peninsula. It is the largest of the promontories in this area of Kerry measuring approximately 32.2 ha and rising to 100m OD. The landmass is isolated at the neck by a bank and external ditch with a low outer bank running NS across the headland for c. 500m.
| 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: W-facing promontory
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✓ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 32.0m
N/A
No dating available for the site. The presence of an Ogham stone may indicate an Early Christian date for the site, however this may equally relate to later activity within an early prehistoric promontory fort.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Ogham stone recorded on the summit of the interior while a number of inhumation burials have also been noted near the S end of the defences. |
The site is not depicted on any edition of the OS six-inch maps. Westropp recorded the site in early part of the twentieth century and suggests that it may have been a place of ritual, a sanctuary of the goddess Duibhne (1910, 291). Ogham stone on the summit of the hill within the interior investigated by Macalsiter in 1899 while the fort was later surveyed by Cuppage in 1986.
| Other (1899): | Macalister |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1910): | Westropp |
| Earthwork Survey (1986): | Cuppage |
On the summit of the interior is an ogham stone that reads ERC MAQI MAQI ERCAIS (MU) DOVINI (A). Macalister records the discovery of a souterrain containing bones and a cross-inscribed stone on the headland (1899, 298-80), while two inhumation burials were found near the S end of the defences (Cuppage 1986, 67)
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Ogham stone, souterrain, cross-inscribed stone and burials and
| 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 | ✗ |
There are no recorded entrances through the bank
| 0: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
The landmass is isolated at the neck by a bank and external ditch with a low outer bank running N-S across the headland for c. 500m. They are located at the base of the slope and are incorporated into the modern field boundary system with the inner bank surmounted by a stone-faced filed fence (OSullivan and Sheehan 1996, 89). The defences are relatively insubstantial when compared to the size of the promontory, with the ditch 3.7-4.8m wide and 0.95m deep and the bank 4.5m wide and 1m high from within.
| Area 1: | 32.2ha. |
| Total: | 32.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 32.2ha.
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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Cuppage, J. et al. 1986. Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula. Ballyferriter
MaCalister, R.A.S. 1899. On an ancient settlement in the south-west of the barony of Corkaguiney, Co. Kerry. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 31, 209-344.
O'Sullivan, A and Sheehan, J. 1996. Iveragh Peninsula: An Archaeological Survey of South Kerry. Cork University Press. Cork
Redmond, M. 1995. A survey of the promontory forts of the Kerry peninsulas. Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 28, 5-63.
Westropp, T.J. 1910. Promontory forts and similar structures of County Kerry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 40, 179-213, 265-196
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