Dunbeg Promontory Fort

County Kerry

       From the ninth to thirteenth centuries AD, on the southwest coast of the Dingle Peninsula, near Ventry in County Kerry, the Dunbeg Promontory Fort can be found. These dates place Dunbeg’s inhabitation during Iron Age/ pre-Norman/ Early Christian times in two separate periods of inhabitation. It is situated, literally, feet from Dingle Bay where it is suggested that parts of the earlier structure have eroded and thus disappeared. This area of the Dingle Peninsula is referred to as Fahan. The stamp of the Early Christian period can be seen on sites on the Dingle Peninsula with the beginning of the use crosses and the ancient Celtic alphabet (The Dingle Peninsula, p. 139-144).  Dunbeg is classified as a promontory fort because it exhibits many of the typical features so prevalent across the Western Coastline of Ireland. These features are earthen or stone banks, location on or very near a cliff edge and perhaps fortified embankments in front of the structure limiting access to it.  At Dunbeg, which was only recently excavated, two layers of occupation from have been identified; however, there is very little evidence for continued occupation later (The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland, p. 20). Dunbeg was excavated in 1977 by T.B. Barry, from Trinity College, Dublin (The Dingle Peninsula, p. 142). Dunbeg was a large walled-in enclosure around a stone beehive hut or clochan. The clochan probably did not have a stone roof, but one of wood or wattle. It was defended by a series of five ditches, or fosses, and a stone rampart (The Dingle Peninsula, p. 142). Between these structures ran a causeway flanked by orthostats, large upright stones. The stone ramparts are complete with guard chambers within the wall. This would have been an impressive entrance for this time period. Beneath the ramparts was a souterrain or human-made underground tunnel (The Dingle Peninsula, p. 139-144). At Dunbeg, the souterrain runs from beneath the clochan to the causeway in front of the defenses (Reading the Irish Landscape, p. 265). The souterrain at Dunbeg was built of dry-stone masonry roofed with large stone slabs. It is suggested that these structures were built for temporary protection in the instance of raids, or to provide an alternate escape if there was the need. 

Aside from the souterrain’s association with promontory forts, they were also fairly common among raths, monastic sites, and even unenclosed houses. These souterrains are only beginning to be studied, and unfortunately the first comprehensive study is being conducted in County Leath by P. Gosling.  Souterrains are not exclusive to Ireland, many have also been found in western Cornwall, Scotland and Brittany. Very few datable items have been found at any of these souterrain sites, and they vary greatly in size and organization. For example, no dateable material was found at Dunbeg within the souterrain. One suggestion for the use of these souterrains other than in a defensive context was as a pen to farrow young pigs. Also, at least one souterrain seems to have been a target for a Norse attack, perhaps they knew that food and people were stored and hidden below and simply laid it to siege until the people had to give up and come out.  Another possible explanation for these enigmatic features is simply as an underground storage unit, in essence, a modern day fruit cellar. However, this hypothesis is based unenclosed town. T. Jones-Hughes felt that the bailes were even “hybrid zones” where the Anglo-Norman people and the Irish people met and mingled. However, D. Flanagan was not as sure that the word baile even refers to a structure at all; it could simply be a small portion of land. Most of the information coming in about the baile townlands is received from place-name studies.   G.F. Barrett conducted statistical analysis of many promontory forts and their surrounding baile townlands presuming that they were contemporaneous, however, only in Kerry on the Dingle Peninsula could this be solidly proven (The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland, p. 22-24).

Christianity and the large role it played in expanding the horizons and reach of the daily people probably helped to lead to the abandonment of this site. The focus shifted from to the ecclesiastical community rather than their small, closely knit family groups that they lived with inside their well-fortified lockboxes. People were drawn out of their defensive shells to the mystery of the Christian religion and the education they could provide in terms of reading and writing. With the arrival of the jurists and their set of laws, life became more focused on the individual and his own possessions than the smaller community as a whole. People began to live in smaller individual homesteads on their little strip of farm land that was starting to be fenced in. All of this change in what was important, at least to the central governing body, can be seen and documented in the jurist laws from the early eighth century onwards (Reading the Irish Landscape, p. 281-296).

A few fields east of Dunbeg, other archaeological sites have been found. There was once a wall and there are the remains of an enclosure. These stone and earth works are characteristic of early Christian sites. The butt of an axe head, found in 1981, dates to 3000 BC putting the earliest known occupation of this area in the Neolithic times. The principal archaeologist in Fahan is R.A.S. Macalister has been working with both the clochan and the baile townlands nearby Dunbeg. There are more clochan here in Fahan on the Dingle Peninsula than would have been necessary for the amount of people living in that area at that time. One suggestion for the amount of accommodations is that pilgrims were making a religious trek to the Skelligs and would have needed a place to rest and wait for a favorable weather day before they departed.  Today, however, Dunbeg is more of an attraction for seals to sun themselves and birds to rest and migrate than for people to come for protection (The Dingle Peninsula, p. 144-145).

Things to consider at this site are what the souterrain would have been used for at this location. Also, consider the fort’s proximity to the eroding cliffs. It might not have been built there originally, perhaps more erosion has taken place than we have considered. Take into consideration this site’s location and the material here, and consider if it agrees with the current leading theory of this being the invading party’s home base.

More Pictures

Bibliography

Barry, T.B. The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland.

            London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 1999.

Hunt, Lindsay. Fodor's Exploring Ireland. 5th ed.

Fodor's Travel Publications, 2003.

MacDonogh, Steve. The Dingle Peninsula.

            Dingle: Brandon: Mount Eagle Publications Ltd., 2000

Mitchell, Frank and Michael Ryan. Reading the Irish Landscape.

            Dublin: Town House and Country House, 2003.