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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Promontory fort - inland

Benagh, County Louth, Ireland

The record

Townland
Benagh
County
Louth
Country
Ireland
Coordinates
54.00788, -6.22880
SMR number
LH008-051001-

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1636 "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

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The National Monuments Service's description

Situated above the confluence of two small rivers, a triangular headland adapted to form a promontory fort. The interior of the fort is a roughly circular area (max. dims. 24.3m E-W, 22.8m N-S) delimited by an earthen bank and external fosse which extend in an arc from WNW-ENE, cutting off the interior from the landward side, and by a scarp (H 2-5m) on all other sides. There is no trace of an entrance or causeway across the fosse, but this is probably due to the degraded nature of the site. Possible circular hut site (LH008-051003-) (int. diam. 3.5m) in centre of interior, noted during field survey in 1970 and 1982. The site was levelled in 1985 in the course of land reclamation, and all surface features were removed. The tradition of a possible souterrain (LH008-051002-) in the interior of the fort proved to be correct, as it was opened during the removal of the promontory fort.

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 8/1985).

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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