forts historical ireland

Recent excavations have shown that it was probably in use from the Bronze age up till as late as 1800....

Best known as the site of the finding of the Ardagh chalice, now in the ...

A ringfort with a clay wall four feet high and lined with stones. Near the south side are the foundations of a beehive hut. The original entrance was probably on the west, and five stones still stand outside. Inside is an Ogham stone with tie inscription D....A.... AVI DALAGNI later superseded by EQQEGGNI MAQI MAQI-CARRATTINN....

Eochaill fort is situated about 1km south/south-east of the old lighthouse. It is one of the great forts of the island and has two concentric dry masonery ramparts, the inner one terraced. In the inner enclosure are the remains of two clochans. The fields to the west and south are littered with ancient remains....

Water Worship Ritual Site dating back to Bronze Age. Site comprises two pairs of earthen circles but exact date and function have not yet been confirmed....

Pleasantly situated on a hill overlooking Lough Gara, this is a fine stone fort built of stones which get progressively smaller near the top. Inside are stairways leading to the ramparts, as well as a wall niche under one of the stairs. There are two souterrains in the interior. It was partially rebuilt in the 18th century....

This magnificent caher or stone fort, is the most impressive and awe-inspiring of all the Aran Forts. Its three outer walls, with the exception of the remnants of the inner curtain, have disappeared but the massive fortress wall itself, built of stones, is almost intact.

Standing with its northern part on a cliff over a small valley, it measures 70m from north to south and 35m from east to west....

Access by foot via a forestry car park signposted to the left off the N18 road between Newmarket-on-fergus and Dromoland. The famous iron age ring fort of Mooghaun, 'one of our most remarkable antiquities. It has three great stone walls of which the outermost, oval in outline, measures 450 m x 30 m' - O Riordain, 1942. It enclosed 18 hectares....

Dubh Cathair, or Doocaher, 'The Black Fort', is one of several large stone-built fortifications on Inismore, Aran. Historically, it has received less attention than famed Dun Aengus, 3.5 miles to the north-west, but is scarcely less remarkable a structure and may in fact be considerably older - though none of the Aran forts has been closely dated so far.

The defences at Dubh Cathair consist of a great drystone wall some 200 feet long, curving across the neck of a cliffed limestone...