Promontory fort - coastal

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated along the steep cliffs northeast of Loop Head in a flat area of coarse sheep grazing. The view from the fort is spectacular, especially to SW. The promontory is named 'Doondoillroe' on all editions of the OS 6-inch maps and curving embankments with an intervening fosse extending roughly N-S are hachured at the E extremity of the promontory and show a central entrance. Westropp (1908, 223) indicated a path down to the sea just W of the embankments. This site was visited and described by Markus Casey in 1999 and at that point the remains closely matched a description and illustration done by Westropp in 1908. However, it has since been almost completely destroyed by quarrying. The site comprises a west-facing headland (170m E-W; 45m N-S). In 1999 the inner bank (int. H 2.65m; Wth 10.5m) was well-preserved. It was round-topped and built of sand, gravel and earth. Some early quarrying had removed the S portion of the bank. The fosse (Wth at base 3.9m; Wth at top 8m; D 4.8m) was flat bottomed and partly waterlogged. The outer bank (int. H 2.1m; ext. H 0.6m) was round topped and covered with a pile of sand near the northern edge. The southern part of the outer bank had also been destroyed through quarrying activities. The dimensions of the defences were fairly uniform throughout their length although the fosse became wider at the southern cliff edge. The causewayed entrance (Wth across the bank 1m; Wth across the fosse 3.1m) ran through the middle of the fortifications. On inspection in 2003 all of these features were found to have been completely removed. A grassy platform (L 20m) remains at the W end of the promontory and two narrow drainage channels cut through it E-W, one at N and one at S. E of this platform topsoil has been removed from a 25m area. Everything to the E of this desodded area has apparently been heavily and completely quarried for the extraction of shale and gravel. This quarrying has varied in depth from 1.2m in western end to average and reach 10m in most sectors. Two ring-barrows (CL065-109001- and CL065-109002-) lie in the field immediately to the north. A third (CL065-109003-) is either quarried out or covered by spoil from the quarry. (Westropp 1908, 222-4; Casey 1999, 193-4; 2001, 2002, 2003; Grant 2002)

The following images have been uploaded:
CL065-027----_01.jpg View from E across remaining headland. Extensive quarrying where the embankments would have been.
CL065-027----_02.jpg View to S from remaining portion of promontory fort.
CL065-027----_03.jpg View to N from remaining portion.

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/2002).

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 11 March 2019

References

Casey, M. 1999 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland. A survey of counties Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Clare. Unpublished MA thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Casey, M. 2003 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland: interim report for the Heritage Council. Unpublished specialist report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Casey, M. 2001 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland: interim report for the Heritage Council. Unpublished specialist report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Casey, M. 2002 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland: interim report for the Heritage Council. Unpublished specialist report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Grant, C. 2002 Archaeological Site Inspection, Tullig, Co. Clare. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.