Promontory fort - coastal

The National Monuments Service's description

On a prominent headland, flanked by sheer cliffs, at SW end of Inishbofin. Dún Mór, as it is known locally, is a roughly rectangular area (110m by 60m) rising towards W. Defined on landward (E) side by a curving drystone wall (Wth 3-4m, H 0.95m) which peters out towards N. Evidently much collapsed/destroyed since Westropp's time; he described it as being well built and double-faced, 0.9m to 1.5m in height and 3.05m to 3.95m in width. Some 9.75m from S end of the wall was a well-defined gate (Wth 1.9m), of which no trace now survives. Outside and downslope from the wall is a natural, though fosse-like, feature running across the neck of the promontory. Apart from 'an oblong patch of stones', still visible c. 20m inside the wall, the interior is featureless. (Westropp 1911, 60-2; 1914, 331-2)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010