Hillfort

The National Monuments Service's description

The summit of a steep hill (max. diams. 550m N-S; 650m E-W; area c. 28.2 hectares), now largely covered in forestry, is enclosed by an earth and stone bank (Wth 4m; max. H 1m), best preserved at the E (GSIAP O.62/63).

The hillfort was recently described in the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland as following; 'Partial contour fort surrounding the domed summit of steep hilltop. This prominent hilltop sits at the E edge of the Wicklow mountains overlooking Greystones town and the Wicklow coastline. Coolagad is positioned 2.8km to the NE of Downshill hillfort (Atlas No.0720). The univallate site forms a complete circuit and has a total footprint of 28.2ha. There are no recorded entrance features. No evidence for any internal features on the surface. Ramparts survive best at the E. The majority of the interior is under mature forestry. This hillfort is not depicted in any historic mapping. The enclosing elements follow the natural contours of the hill at the N and W. At the NE, the bank runs down slope and continues to the E across a gentle slope rather than utilizing the steeper slope uphill. The hilltop itself is prominent and sits at the E edge of the Wicklow mountains overlooking Greystones town and the Wicklow coastline. Boundary between Coolagad and Kindlestown Upper townland runs E-W through the center of the hillfort' (http://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/records/IR0719.html). Described in 2019 (O'Driscoll et. al. 2019, 91) as a 'Class 1 Hillfort'.

See attached Google Earth orthoimages.

In May, 2022, a walkover survey by Shanarc Archaeology Ltd, at Kindlestown Woods (commissioned by Coillte and carried out as a felling licence condition) recovered 31 possible lithics. These, along with an assemblage of nine lithics recovered by a Senior Archaeologist with the Forest Service Inspectorate, DAFM, brought the total to 40 objects.
Specialist analysis confirmed 15 as archaeological objects: identified as flaked stone tools comprising platform cores, flakes and debris, and containing one modified flaked stone tool that may have been utilised as a knife.
The assemblage is evidence of the deposition of prehistoric objects toward the summit of Kindlestown Wood.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wicklow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien and Gearóid Conroy

Date of revised upload: 5 May 2023

References

GSIAP - Geological Survey of Ireland Aerial Photographs (c. 1973). Geological Survey. Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017 Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland.(Online website at https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk)

O’Driscoll, J. et. al. 2019 The Irish Hillfort. In G. Lock and Ian Ralston (eds.) Papers from the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland Confere3nce, June 2017, 77-96. Oxford. Archaeopress Archaeology.