Hillfort

The National Monuments Service's description

On the table-top plateau of Knocknashee hill, commanding extensive views in all directions to the Ox Mountains and South Sligo. The generally level plateau is comprised of a series of natural terraces of limestone bedrock declining gradually from the centre of the plateau outwards to the abrupt break of slope that marks the outer edge. Described by Condit, Gibbons and Timoney (1991, 59-62) as a roughly oval-shaped area (c. 700m NNE-SSW; c. 350m E-W), comprising c. 21.5 hectares and enclosed by two earth-and-stone banks. The inner bank (Wth 3.8m; max. H 1.5m) is constructed from a series of quarry hollows contiguous to the inner bank face and forming an inner fosse in parts and is topped by a later field boundary wall along the E side (ibid.). A second rampart was described along the E and S arcs, parallel to the inner bank and utilising a natural terrace and turning sharply downhill at NE (ibid.). Along the sheltered E half of the interior are about 30 hut sites, possibly a Neolithic settlement (SL032-013004-). Two possible passage tombs (SL032-013002-; SL032-013003-) c. 120m apart are located at the N end of the plateau. A D-shaped enclosure (SL032-013005-) abuts the inner bank at E. Further evidence of settlement might be provided by the presence of 'scoops and hollows situated at the south and south-west in the hillfort' (ibid., 61).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008