Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Archaeological Survey of Ireland SMR Database MA065-032001 (None)
NMR: MA 065 (None)
SM: None
NGR: None
X: 470782 Y: 793190 (IRENET95)
This narrow promontory is situated on the NW shore of Achill Beg island, lying inside a little bay S of Belnaglas. It is depicted and hachured on the second edition OS six-inch map as 'Dunnagurrogh fort and huts'. It projects to the NW for a distance of 43m beyond a field fence on the landwatd side of the narrow neck on the SE, which 'apparently the rebuilt outer ring of the d–n' (Westropp 1914, 313). Inside this line a ditch 3.6m wide and 1.2m deep runs across the neck in a straight line over a distance of 10m and is crossed by a central causeway 1.8m wide, while a further 6.4m NW a possible second, filled-in ditch is recorded 2.7m wide. Within this ditch an inner stone wall was described by Westropp as '6 feet thick, and dips back in a sharp angle like a bastion; beside it to the north was a gateway 6 feet wide, and lined with set slabs' (1914, 313). A low bank 1.8m wide and 0.9m high can be traced round the margin of the promontory and encloses an area of 0.01ha. Westropp notes that the 'bastion' is a late feature which may have had a gatehouse originally (ibid.). There are no recorded internal features, but a double hut-site is recorded on the landward side, 16m outside the defences; they are circular and are defined by low stone walls.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -1109295 Y: 7145959 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -9.964965323637912 Latitude: 53.872037642249744 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Republic of Ireland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Mayo (Achill Beg)
Historic County: Mayo
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Achill Beg
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 | ✗ |
This narrow promontory is situated on the NW extent of Achill Beg, lying inside a little bay S of Belnaglas. It projects to the NW for a distance of 43m
| 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: 5.0m
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: | The wall may have been a later addition to the site (Westropp 1914). |
Depicted and hachured on the second edition OS six-inch map as 'Dunnagurrogh fort and huts'. Visited and surveyed by Thomas Westropp in 1914
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1839): | OS six-inch mapping |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1914): | Thomas 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 | ✗ |
A causeway, 1.8m wide is recorded 5m from the N end of the ditch. A gateway is recorded through the stone wall or bastion, 1.8m wide and lined with stone slabs.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
Enclosed on the SE by a fence 'apparently the rebuilt outer ring of the dñn' (Westropp 1914, 313). Inside this line a ditch 3.6m wide and 1.2m deep runs across the neck in a straight line over a distance of 10m and is crossed by a central causeway 1.8m wide, while a further 6.4m NW a possible second, filled-in ditch is recorded 2.7m wide. Within this ditch an inner stone wall was described by Westropp as '6 feet thick, and dips back in a sharp angle like a bastion; beside it to the north was a gateway 6 feet wide, and lined with set slabs' (1914, 313). A low bank 1.8m wide and 0.9m high can be traced round the margin of the promontory and encloses an area of 0.01ha.
| Area 1: | 0.01ha. |
| Total: | 0.01ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 0.05ha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| 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 |
Westropp, T.J. 1914. The promontory forts and early remains of islands of Connacht. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 44, 297-337.
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