05 Feb Ardagh Ringfort
Many of the 40,000 ringforts remaining in Ireland are well preserved, and all are now protected under the National Monuments Act. The Ardagh Ringfort, however,...
Forts
20 Dec Dún Dealgan
(Cúchulainn’s Castle)
Perched on a commanding ridge overlooking the Castletown River, Dún Dealgan represents one of the most strategically significant sites in Irish history. ...
09 Dec Fuerty Fairy Fort
According to Liam Connolly, the fairy fort in sight of his kitchen window was used as a burial ground during the terrible years of the...
25 Nov Loher Stone Fort
It is likely that a locally important chieftain built this fortified homestead in the Early Christian period. He certainly had a brilliant sense for its...
25 Nov The Grianán of Aileach
Bus loads of schoolchildren drive up the winding road where the Grianán of Aileach dominates the summit. As the youngsters disperse to explore the fort...
22 Nov Dún An Óir
There is little left to see at Dún An Óir. The earthworks from the hastily-constructed 1580 fortification have been eroded by weather and waves. There...
20 Nov Binder’s Cove Souterrain
Binder's Cove souterrain may have been constructed as a place of refuge where its owners could escape when threatened, torches ablaze as they raced into...
16 Nov Tullylin and Carns
Is it possible that there might be a connection between an ancient inauguration stone, a nearby fairy fort, and the apparition that appear to four...
16 Nov Dunbeg Fort (An Dún Beag)
In 1910 T.J. Westropp called Dunbeg "the most complex and remarkable of the Irish promontory forts." But archaeologists have few finds from the site. Why...
27 Oct Mooghaun Hillfort and
the Great Clare Find
Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare The treasure trove of golden ornaments must have been connected to nearby Mooghaun Hillfort. But how did the gold come to be deposited...
20 Oct Minard Castle,
Ring Fort, and Holy Well
Anascaul, Co. Kerry The drama of the Anglo-Irish conflict, explosively played out here in 1650, was—more than 300 years later—the backdrop for the 1970 film Ryan’s...
15 Oct Rathgall Hillfort
Tullow, Co. Wicklow The blarney recounted by nineteenth-century travel writers in Ireland has not gone out of style. In June of 1979 our informants delighted in...
14 Oct Leacanabuaile
and Cahergall Forts
Kimego West, Co. Kerry The two forts are known in Irish as caiseal, not far from the Irish word for castle, caisleán. In local legend, the...
28 Aug Cairn Thierna
Fermoy, Co. Cork A tumbled pile of stone now seems a secondary feature to the large illuminated Christian cross on the summit of Corrin Hill. But...
24 Aug Caherconree Promontory Fort
Camp, Co Kerry Cú Roí mac Dáire was a legendary sorcerer, an evil magician who resided in the south of Ireland in the brutal tribal era...
03 May Ardnamagh Fairy Fort
Moynalty, Co. Meath Ireland has remnants of more than 45,000 ringforts. There were once many more, now leveled and lost. That so many have survived is...
03 May Dún Aonghasa (Dun Aengus)
Inishmore, Co. Galway Dun Aengus is precariously perched on the edge of a vertical cliff, perhaps parts of it already fallen down into the churning waters...
21 Apr Staigue Fort
Sneem, Co. Kerry The local peasantry called the building Staig an air, which was translated as "Windy House, or "The Staired Place of Slaughter." It was...
21 Apr Béal Ború – Brian Boru’s Fort
Killaloe, Co. Clare Within a trench dug into the ringfort the archaeologists discovered evidence of a rectangular wooden building, paved with large slabs of stone...
