Promontory Fort

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Entrance of the Dunbeg Fort
Promontory Fort Burghead; Scotland

Promontory Fort (actually "Ancient Promontory Fort", Irish Dún Cinn Tíre , in Cornwall " Cliff Castle ", in France L'éperon barré ) is the English-language name for Bronze and Iron Age section walls , which are mostly on peninsulas and foothills, but also at demolition edges inland. They are very common in the British Isles . Section fortifications on the coast are also known as cap fort , cliff fort or coastal fort (German: Kap-, Klippen- or coastal castle).

Promontory and Hillforts
Promontory Fort Dunbeg on the Dingle Peninsula , County Kerry , Ireland

Occurrence

Promontory forts are relatively common in Cornwall (e.g. Carn Lês Boel , Dodman Point, Maen Castle , The Rumps , Trereen Dinas , Trevelgue Head ) and occur in Scotland ( An Dun at Clashnessie , Dunnicaer Hillfort , Earn's Heugh and Hurly Hawkin at Dundee , where a brochure , a round house and a basement are on the same headland), the Isles of Scilly and Wales ( Berry Hill Fort , Caerau).

On the Isle of Man ( Cronk ny Merriu near Santon ) two of what were once more than 20 Promontory forts have been preserved. There are also some on the Shetland Islands ( Ness of Burgi ) and the Orkney (Brough of Bigging). The Scottish plants Dun Ringill on Skye , Dun Grugaig (Glenelg) and Dun Lagaidh on Loch Broom are known as semi- or proto-brochs.

In Ireland there are over 350 Promontory forts on the coast. 9 of them were investigated, for example on the island of Dalkey (excavated between 1956 and 1959) or "The Great Bailey", both in County Dublin , and in the inland Caherconree in the Sliabh Mis Mountains on the Dingle Peninsula . The County Clare is one of only 34 and County Galway eleven plants. On the headland of drumanagh ( Fingal ) the remains of the largest Promontory Fort Ireland lie. Many are also on sometimes tiny islands. On larger ones like the Araninsel Inishmore z. B. Dún Dúchathair . The first scientific excavation of a Promontory Fort was carried out in 1936 at Larribane, County Antrim .

They are also found in Brittany and Normandy , where they are called L'éperon barré .

Structure and numbers

Combinations of earth walls, steep slopes, walls and ditches cut through the necks of the promontories. The reversal of this separation consists in the connection of a formerly land-based island by building a connecting dam. A number of coastal places have suffered from erosion and so the number of facilities may once have been even greater. There are field names like Doonduff and Dooneen on the coast of Inishbofin and Illaundoon Island, which indicate earlier Promontory forts. Of the 400 known sites in Ireland, only a dozen have been archaeologically excavated. The results show that the monuments, although they look similar, began in the late Bronze Age , that is, from 1000 BC. BC, built and occasionally used until the late Middle Ages , i.e. until 1500 AD.

Near the sea

The simplest form of a Promontory Fort is the separation of a headland ( Burghead Fort , Drumanagh , Knocklane ) by means of a trench in which the excavated earth or the worked rock was piled up as a wall ( Dún Dúchathair ). The area behind the barrage can be relatively poor or (more rarely) provided with a stone ring fort, a so-called dun , as in the case of Dunbeg Fort in County Kerry .

Inland

In the interior of the country, Promontory forts lie on steep edges. Particularly well-known in Ireland are Cahercommaun in County Clare , Knoxspark in County Sligo and Caherconree in County Kerry on the Dingle Peninsula . Berry Hill Fort in Wales.

Other cliff fortifications

There are comparable systems in northern France ( foothills fort on the Pointe de Lostmarc'h ) on the Iberian Peninsula and on Sardinia . In Sardinia, the complex around the well sanctuary of Santa Vittoria near Serri is on the edge of the four kilometer long and one kilometer wide basalt plateau .

literature

  • Nancy Edwards: The Archeology of Early Medieval Ireland . Batsford, London 1990.
  • Michael J. O'Kelly, John T. Collins, P. O'Connor, AW Stelfox, G. Roche, GA Hayes-McCoy, Three Promontory Forts in Co. Cork. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy , Section C: Archeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature Vol. 55, 1952/1953, 25-59. JSTOR 25506020 .

Web links

swell

  1. ^ Promontory Forts in County Clare , accessed January 31, 2011