Restrictions
- Stay back from edge
Dunbeg Fort is a state-owned National Monument in the care of the Office of Public Works
*Strictly no direct access to Dunbeg Fort.
Due to the positioning of this Fort near a cliff edge, viewing may only be done from a distance. There is a fenced walkway surrounding the Fort allowing visitors a viewpoint from a safe distance.*
WARNING: It should be noted that these sites are unguided and a level of care and caution should be maintained during all stages of your visit. The Office Of Public Works (OPW) will not be held responsible for any damages, injuries, or losses that occur
Dun Beag promontory fort projects south into Dingle bay on the Slea Head drive from Dunquin to Ventry with spectacular views of the Skellig Islands and Valentia Island. In 1977 the OPW carried out extensive excavation of Dun Beag, led by Professor Terry Barry TCD, to try and capture the nature of occupation and its chronology. This was needed as Dun Beag is slowly falling into the sea, due to extensive erosion and storms.
The following is taken from Barry’s excavations findings:
‘The defences consist of 4 lines of banks, 5 fosses, and an inner drystone rampart with a complex entrance flanked by 2 guard-chambers. A souterrain extends under the causeway from this entrance, and in the interior is a single clochaun. The banks are raised up to 1m above old ground level and are up to 3m wide. The fosses are from .98 to 1.55m deep below the old ground surface and are from 5.6 to 12m wide. Portions of the 2 outer banks lie outside a boundary wall constructed in the 1890's, and their line is now barely perceptible. Several small breaks in the crests of the banks probably result from the removal of N-S field fences which formerly crossed the defences. Tentative traces of a palisade trench were found on the N facing crest of the inner bank and possibly along the N face of the next bank. There were also indications of possible stone facing on the N sides of both banks.
A central causeway, 1.2m wide, provided access to the interior. Upright slabs lined the edges of this and a few of these still survive towards the S end. The inner stone rampart, up to 6.35m thick and 3.08m high, extends across the promontory for 29m. This is only about half the length recorded in 1856 by Du Noyer (1858, 2); much of the W half has fallen into the sea. There appear to have been 2 construction phases. Phase 1 is represented by the inner half of the wall; this measures 4.8m in width and 2.76m in height and has 3 terraces along its inner face. The lintelled entrance passage is 2m wide and 2.3m high with slightly corbelled side walls. Two small chambers are incorporated within the thickness of the wall on either side of this. They measure 2.3 x 1.4m x almost 2m high (E chamber) and 2.4 x 1m x 1.2m high (W chamber). One of these chambers was open at the top c. 1865, and must have been subsequently restored (Pitt-Rivers).
Both are entered from the interior of the fort. Bolt holes for the wooden bar of a door across the entrance passage open into the chambers allowing access to the fort to be controlled by whomever was inside. At a later stage the exterior capstone of the passage cracked and pillars were inserted along the E side wall to give support. The passage was also extended outwards, but was reduced in width and height to .92m and 1.24m respectively. New bar holes were provided in the extended entrance, with external stone rebates for a wooden door. At the same time the adjacent fosse was deepened. The upcast soil was piled against the outer face of the rampart to form the core of a strengthening wall measuring 1.75 to 2.25m wide and 1.9m high. Because of the additional weight, the inner face of the fosse was buttressed with a drystone retaining wall. At present there is a curved terminal to the E end of the rampart and a similar terminal existed at the W end prior to its erosion.
The chronological relationship between these and the main rampart remains uncertain. The earliest plans and descriptions of the site indicate a straight wall running from cliff edge to cliff edge (Du Noyer 1858; Pitt-Rivers c. 1865). Later field walls also extended along the edge of the promontory from each end of the rampart. Barry suggests the possibility that the workmen involved in reconstruction work in the 1890's may have mistaken the remains of these later walls for part of the original rampart and reconstructed them accordingly. A drystone-built souterrain extends for 16.5m from within the entrance passage to some 2m S of the inner face of bank 2. For most of its length it measures 1m wide and 1m high.
An accidental entrance occurs 3m N of the outer face of the rampart, and immediately S of this the souterrain takes an abrupt turn to SW and is reduced in width and height to .5m. The junction of the 2 sections is marked by 2 large orthostats rising the full height of the walls. A stone flagged pathway leads from the entrance in the rampart to a clochaun in the interior of the fort. It partly overlies a stone-lined drain which runs along the outside of the clochaun to the cliff edge. The clochaun, circular in plan outside and rectangular inside, has an internal diameter of 7.5m and is a maximum of 2.3m high. The lintelled doorway faces NW, and, at about mid-point on both sides, stone supports for a door occur and 2 draw-bar holes are also preserved.
The earliest plans and descriptions of the site indicate a more complex structure here, consisting either of 2 conjoined clochauns or of a single clochaun with internal divisions (Du Noyer 1858, 3; Dunraven 1875, 21; Pitt-Rivers c. 1865). However, Deane's 1893 plan shows the structure as it is today. Perhaps these subdivisions were merely late sheep-shelters constructed within the remains of the clochaun, and, if so, they may have been removed prior to 1893 during restoration work by the OPW.’[1]
Human habitation of Dun Beag came in two waves, as excavation of the clochán showed. A clochán is a drystone hut also known as beehive huts, typically found in the southwest of Ireland. Associated with religious and secular dwelling. The first wave of occupation was centred on a small hearth near the south wall. Clusters of holes indicate a tripod for supporting pots or skins over the fire. Analysis of the occupation debris shows a diet of mainly goats, pigs, sheep and some cattle.
The second occupation layer concentrated on two hears in the centre of the clochán. Recovered were the bones of birds, fish sheep, deer and pig. It has been suggested that the clochán was never roofed due to its size. Instead, it is thought lean-too structures were attached to the clochán and this is supported by the presence of stake holes which could be lined up with dividing wattle walls.
Neither wave of occupation showed to be long lasting, with speculation that the clochán was used in emergency times only. As of a date, nothing was found to give a concrete date. However radio carbon dating dates the first wave of occupation as 900 ± 65 A.D with the second wave dating to 990 ± 100 A.D., ergo inhabited in the 10th and 11th centuries.
The earliest date associated with Dun Beag is 580 ± 35 B.C that came from radiocarbon dating a charcoal layer of what is suggested to be from the burning of a wattle fence.
In 1858, George Victor Du Noyer MRIA (an Irish painter, geologist and antiquary) made notes and sketches of Dun Beag as it was then. In 1897 Thomas Westropp and Professor R.A.S.MacAlister in 1896 and 1898 note the loss of parts of Dun Beag, and again in 1915 site erosion is highlighted. More recently in 2017, the CHERISH Project has been recording site changes via regular drone and laser scanner surveys.
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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014
[1] Barry, T.B. 1981 Archaeological excavations at Dunbeg promontory fort, Co. Kerry, 1977. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 81 C, 295-330.
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