Hillfort

The National Monuments Service's description

'The Hillfort at Glanbane is by far the largest enclosure in the area and would when intact have been an impressive site. The site has been ploughed out since the mid 1960's and is now only visible as a crop mark on aerial photographs. The site stands on the last high point at the eastern end of the Sliabh Mis, overlooking the approaches from the east into both the valley of the River Lee and that of the River Maine.
Raftery (1994,43) places the fort at Glanbane in his Class 2 hillforts and suggests that it is bivallate and encloses 12 hectares. A sub-circular inner enclosure measuring approximately 114m in diameter, is visible on aerial photography. Outside this a second bank or rampart of the site is clearly visible as a crop mark and enclosing sub-circular, almost thumbnail shaped area, measuring 267m NW-SE and 248m NE-SW.
An outer bank/rampart is only visible on two photographs, one published by Raftery (1994, Pl. 12) and a photograph from 1986. This rampart is visible intermittently around the site and conforms to the modern townland boundary between Glanbane and Garraundarragh to the south. This rampart suggests the site was trivallate, measured approximately 314m by 310m and enclosed an area of approximately 10 hectares.'

Description from ‘The Prehistoric Settlement of the Lee Valley, Tralee, Co. Kerry; A Landscape Perspective’ by Michael Connolly. PhD Thesis UCC 2008

Glanbane hillfort in Co. Kerry, Ireland has been dated to the Late Bronze Age (O’Brien and O’Driscoll 2017). It comprises two widely spaced enclosing elements, each of which consist of an internal bank of earth with external stone facing, and an external rock-cut ditch. Geophysical survey of the interior revealed a number of large earthen and wooden enclosures, including two large structures positioned at the highest point of the interior.

To see a 3D model of this monument visit: https://skfb.ly/6vDOW

Date of upload: 25 June 2012

References

Raftery, B. 1994 Pagan Celtic Ireland: the enigma of the Irish Iron Age. London. Thames and Hudson.

O'Brien, W. and O'Driscoll, J. 2017 Hillforts, Warfare and Society in Bronze Age Ireland. Oxford. Archaeopress.