From the ending of our most recent Ice Age to the arrival of our First Farmers, the Irish landscape changed little other than the reduction of our land space with rising sea waters from the melting ice cap. The Mesolithic peoples left minimal traces behind such as that at Lough Boora, Offaly.
The First Farmers introduced land clearances in order to sow crops, crops led to surpluses. Surpluses were used for sowing in the next year and also for trade. Crops led to settlement where people no longer needed to hunt or to gather in the same way. Settlement and farming also led to a substantial growth in the Irish population. Later, farm animals appear requiring further land clearances. DNA evidence is emerging that new groups of people were coming into Ireland, resulting in the previous hunter gatherer population disappearing from the landscape.
The organisation of farming resulted in changes to the diet while settlement in specific locations led to wealth and people living longer. We then start to see monuments appear on the landscape particularly for burials of members of the elite, almost always male. Many of the structures were built to honour the dead and their ancestors, some were richly furnished and provide more evidence of the wealth of those living in the Bronze Age.
Other monuments types surviving in the landscape today were enclosures of different types, many of these monuments were copied from those in Europe. In this blog we will concentrate on hillforts and hilltop enclosures.
Hillforts form some of the largest archaeological monuments in Europe and are recognised as regional centres of power and authority. This monument type flourished throughout Europe during the Bronze Age particularly in the Middle Bronze Age/Late Bronze Age transition and saw an unprecedented intensification in their construction in Ireland. In Europe, the idea of enclosing a hilltop is evidenced from the Neolithic period onwards.
Maiden Castle, Dorset and Keltische Grabhugel, Germany.
Some suggest that up to 30,000 hillforts were built across Europe. In Ireland the number is not agreed, see below; however, about 20 have been excavated, though only just over half of these provide secure dating for their construction and use. How many hillforts are there in Ireland? In the early 1970s Dr Barry Raftery suggested in his Pagan Celtic Ireland that there may be about 50 hillforts in Ireland. The most recent survey from the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland, 2017 lists 345 hillforts on the whole island of Ireland.
There are many ways to categorise enclosures on hill tops. The threshold between hillfort and hilltop enclosure in Ireland has always been based on the size of the enclosure with 1ha employed as the minimum threshold for calculation.
However, we must also bear in mind that hillforts across Europe provide evidence of a warrior culture with frequent clashes. The manufacture and distribution of weapons such as bronze swords and spears revealed that in Ireland the elite subscribed to a warrior culture.
Hilltop enclosures are distinguished from hillforts by their smaller size and are usually built on significantly lower positions in the landscape. Again, most of them have impressive defences.
Defended coastal promontory forts are also in evidence at coastal locations. The Sites and Monuments database lists 503 for the 26 counties, they are also built for defensive purposes and some are mentioned below.
Three Promontory Forts. Staigue Stone Fort, Kerry; Dunbeatten Fort, Waterford; Black Fort, Inis Mor, Galway, all Google Maps.
In the context of County Offaly and the types of enclosures other than hillforts and hilltop enclosures we have 42 ring barrows, 7 ring ditches and 248 ringforts or raths. This is largely due to the topography of the county where most of the county is covered in bog with very few locations suitable for hillforts or hilltop enclosures.
The 1995 Record of Monuments and Places for Co. Offaly has three hillforts listed at Ballycurragh (possible), Ballymacmurragh and Croghanhill (possible); four sites are also listed as hilltop enclosures at Killowen, Togher, Ballykilleen and Corraclevin. By 1997 the Archaeological Inventory of Co. Offaly has only two hillforts designated at Ballycurragh and Ballymacmurragh while five are listed as hilltop enclosures at Killowen, Togher, Corraclevin, Kilmanaghan and Raheenduff.
The current online Sites and Monument Records from the http://www.archaeology.ie database for Co. Offaly today lists the same two hillforts as the 1997 survey; but with a new list of hilltop enclosures at Togher, Clonlyon. Cumber Lower and Letter.
The Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland, 2017, is a survey caried out between 2012 – 2016. In total 4147 Hillforts were included for Britain and Ireland. Specifically for Co. Offaly the list is switched around again with Ballycurragh, Ballymacmurragh and Cumber Lower as hillforts while Killowen, Togher and Ballykilleen are hilltop enclosures. Obvious differences between these might relate to the definitions and surveying techniques used.Unfortunately, the Atlas website at https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/ no longer functions.
Offaly – Hillforts.
The following list is taken from the Sites and Monuments Records at http://www.archaeology.ie.
Ballymacmurragh. This hilltop is surrounded by two earthen banks and two outer ditches with an entrance via a causeway. The site is about 0.8 ha in size. There is a triangulation station on a circular mound in the interior which is covered with dense scrub. The best preserved section is on the south-east of the site. It is also close to the Cumber Lower hilltop enclosure. Field boundaries cross the interior. There is commercial forestry nearby.
Ballymacmurragh Hillfort. Google maps and OS 6-inch last edition
Ballycurragh. This hillfort site is one of the largest in the country, covering 14 acres. There are two earthen and stone banks with a slight inner ditch, there is no evidence of any external ditches. Part of the outer bank has been quarried and part of the south-west enclosure has been damaged by modern roadway construction and the building of the rectory. There is no evidence of any internal features.
Ballycurragh Hillfort. Google Maps and OS 6-inch map.
Offaly – Hilltop Enclosure.
Togher. The original enclosure is now badly damaged by ploughing. There is no evidence of an entrance or any internal features. Approximately 0.4ha in size. More of the original detail is visible from the second edition OS map.
Togher Hilltop enclosure. Aerial photograph and OS 6-inch map.
Clonyon. This is constructed from a large dry stone wall enclosure. From the first edition OS 6” map a larger outer enclosure is visible, but not in the later maps. The date for this enclosure is undefined, the field boundaries may date from the 18th or 19th centuries.
Clonlyon Hilltop enclosure. Google Maps and OS 6-inch map
Letter. There is no surface evidence of this enclosure today. The earthen bank may have fully enclosed the hilltop at one time. The ordnance survey map suggests a possible ring barrow on top of that hill.
Letter. MapMagic 2018 and OS 6-inch 1st Edition Black and White map
Cumber Lower. This hilltop is the point where four townlands meet. The enclosure covers 12.2ha, two enclosures form the entire circuit but with no evidence of an entrance. Enclosure details are hidden by dense tree plantation and scrub cover. The plantation, drainage ditches and forestry roadway may well have damaged any archaeology on the surface or sub- surface.
TL Cooke tells us in his Early History of the Town of Birr of a carved stone of a horseman found in 1844 ‘in a large earthen rath on Knocknaman’ and later exhibited at the Great Exhibition in Dublin in 1853. However, there is a conflicting account presented by Hitchcock who disputes the exact location of the find.
Cumber Lower. Google Maps and OS 6-inch Last Edition.
Irish Hillforts.
Irish hillforts vary considerably in size, ranging from about 1ha to many enclosing more than 10ha. The largest complex of adjoining hillforts is to be found at Spinan’s Hill near Baltinglass, Wicklow, which covers over 130ha.
Baliinglass group of Hillforts from Archaeology Ireland.
Research into Irish hillforts was started by Thomas Westropp in the early 20th century. The first archaeological dig of an Irish hillforts was carried out by Gerhard Bersu in 1948/9 at Freestone Hill, Kilkenny.
Extraordinary finds have been discovered at some sites and are mentioned below. Hillforts would have been constructed by the local community. Construction would have been a considerable undertaking, requiring time to select, prepare, collect and move the material needed.
When were they built?
Although hillforts are evidenced from the Neolithic period, the main impetus for building them commenced in the Early Bronze Age. This period also reflected the arrival of the bronze and gold metal working workshops that were frequently found at or near hillforts.
This change in Ireland followed that in Europe, particularly from the Mediterranean region resulting from instability and the proliferation of bronze weaponry that eventually arrived in Ireland, resulting in the first appearance of bronze swords and spears. Ireland had the greatest density of Late Bronze Age swords and spear heads than anywhere else in Europe.
The Irish Bronze Age show us an elite, high status culture involved in extensive long-distance trading, the manufacture of high-status goods and the construction of massive communal monuments such as hillforts.
Very few of the substantial number of hillforts recorded in Ireland have been excavated. Barry Raftery wrote that ‘without excavation our knowledge of hillforts is limited’. Many of the excavations provided no evidence of settlement and metalworking found elsewhere. The excavations often provide (but not always) evidence of elite residents and specialist activities, generally taken to represent a concentration of wealth under the control of an individual family group. Most have been dated by the recovery of material that provide reliable radiocarbon dates. This is particularly so in the cases of Rathgall, Wicklow, also Firestone Hill, Kilkenny and at Dun Aonghusa, Inis Mor and Dun Ailinne in Kildare.
In Ireland there are forts that show little or no evidence for any type of activity other than the building of the hillfort itself. Only 31 hillforts in Ireland show surface evidence for settlement activity, only nine of these have more visible structures within their interiors. However, in contrast, Knocknashee Common, Co. Sligo hillfort has evidence for over 50 circular structures within the confines of the 22ha enclosure hillfort.
Knocknashee Common, Sligo OS 6-inch First Edition Colour map
Rathgall. Excavations at Rathgall commenced in 1969 when Barry Raftery uncovered a high status settlement and ritual complex dating from Middle to the Late Bronze Age. The hillfort comprises four defensive enclosures, three of them faced with stone. The inner enclosure covered 18 acres and was made from granite boulders. This excavation work continued over many years to completion in 1976.
Over 10,000 artefacts were discovered, sometimes up to 400 per day. They included 88 glass beads, pottery, clay moulds, basket remains, small crucible, parts of sword blades, repaired spear heads and a lignite bracelet. Gold items found included penannular rings, gold beads, twisted gold wire with rings and looped gold wire. In addition, the remains of a Bronze Age woman with baby were discovered in an urn and placed in a pit.
Rathgall Hillfort and some of the finds. Source: Roaring Water Journal.
Dun Ailinne, near Kilcullen, Co. Kildare. A very large site of 34 acres that was excavated 1968 – 1969 by archaeologists lead by US universities. The initial step was to conduct a magnetometer survey of the hill to identify occupational traces. Unusually, this hillfort provided evidence of occupation from Neolithic times to the Iron Age but, perhaps, not continually. Finds included evidence of weaving and the manufacture of iron and bronze artefacts. These included items of personal dress including glass, copper and bronze jewellery. Tools found included spindle wholes, chisels, spear head, and an iron sword. Evidence of feasting came from the bones of sheep, goats and cattle.
Dun Ailinne where the Google Maps photo does not reveal the complexity of this royal site post Excavation.
Emain Macha/Navan Fort. Dated to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, this site was excavated in the 1960s and again in 2020. Many large buildings were discovered on the crest of the hillfort. The site is partially damaged from ongoing quarrying. Traces of gold working and some gold fragments were found in pits from the inner enclosure. The fragments comprised gold sheets gold foil, gold stud and gold wire – all required for making personal ornaments. This far north of North Africa a unique finding was the skull of a Barbary Ape during excavation, dating to 2,300 years ago.
Navan Fort, Co. Armagh. Site picture from Airarchology.org and skull picture from Irish Archaeology.
Hoards.
During the period 1400 – 1100 BC hillforts were linked with a general upsurge in the hoarding of personal ornaments. Only a few hillforts have produced hoards in their interiors, other hordes have been found very close to significantly large hillforts.
One of the most significant and largest Bronze Age hoards was the discovery of a substantial number of bronze items at Dowris just north of Birr around the 1820s or 1830s.
Gold. Gold has been found in many places across Ireland dating to the Bronze Age. Some of this gold has been found close to or in hilltop enclosures. On analysis, significant quantities of other metals had been added to the gold either intentionally or accidentally during manufacturing, including quantities of silver. In many cases only small amounts of gold were found, e.g. hillforts at Rathgall or Emain Macha. Some gold would have been imported, and then reused in many cases.
The largest hoard of Bronze Age gold objects ever found in Western Europe was from close to the Mooghaun hillfort in Co. Clare in March 1854. Some hundreds of objects were found during the building of the West Clare Railway near Newmarket-on-Fergus. Almost immediately, most of the precious objects were sold to local dealers who melted them down for their bullion value. Today 157 bracelets, 11 gold collars, two gold rings, four neck rings and two ingots from Mooghaun survive, held in the National Museum of Ireland and the British Museum.
There has been an on-going debate on the exact find spot. The gold has been dated to 9th century BC and was deliberately deposited at the side of a lake. At an exhibition at the Royal Irish Academy in 1854 there were only 146 gold pieces to be found, mostly personal ornaments.
Mooghaun. Some of the gold collection currently held in the British Museum.
Why build them?
The functions of hillforts are much debated across Europe, with opinion divided between researchers who regard them as defensive strongholds, and those who argue for a wider meaning in economic, social and ideologically terms.
It is undoubtedly the case that early Irish society experienced warfare and political turmoil more or less continuously. Hillforts have only one entrance, entrances were designed to restrict passage in and out, most entrances were a causeway over a deep ditch. In many places the bank of the ditch was also secured with a wooden palisade. Many scholars see the increase in hillfort building in the Late Bronze Age as part of the Irish warfare and warrior culture.
Students from Queens University demonstrating the difficulties of attacking an enclosure bank from within Haughey’s Fort ditch. Photo Archaeology Ireland
Hillforts may have been positioned for the strategic control of prehistoric route ways and territorial boundaries. Perhaps some were lookout posts that were occasionally occupied by small groups of defenders when the political situation deteriorated. A large number of Irish hillforts are positioned to dominate natural route ways and/or natural resources and this may represent an increasing need for control or competition for resources and people.
They may also have been used for communal gatherings where at certain times of the year important functions may have been carried out such as ceremonial, business or commercial activities. Hillforts were used as central places of assembly and elite residents with important economic, social and ceremonial functions.
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