Hilltop enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on the summit of a drumlin with excellent views in all directions. A roughly circular area (51m N-S; 53m E-W) defined by the remains of two earthen banks and an intervening fosse. The inner bank (int. H 0.25m; ext. H 0.7m) is evident SE-NNW; elsewhere the interior is defined by a scarp. Two gaps noted in the inner bank at SSE and SW, with slight causeways (Wth 4m and 6m respectively) across the fosse, may be the result of livestock damage. The fosse is most clearly evident NNW-SW and only barely discernible elsewhere. The outer bank (int. H 0.6m; ext. H 0.3m) survives NNW-SE with faint traces of it visible SE-SSE and two further short sections at S and SSW. The interior undulates very gently and is dry and clear of overgrowth. There is a bowl-barrow (SL033-149002-) in the SW quadrant. A relict earth and stone field boundary joins the inner bank at WNW and another joins the outer edge of the fosse at SW. Similar field boundaries join the outer bank at NNW, NNE and SE. The section of the outer bank between the two boundaries NNW-SE seems to have been augmented in height and width to act as a field boundary. Included in a list of hillforts and hilltop enclosures by Condit, Gibbons and Timoney (1991, 62).

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