Mound, Gortnavern (Millford Ed), Co. Donegal
Co. Donegal |
Ritual/Ceremonial
On a commanding ridge overlooking a pass through the hills to Mulroy Bay stands an enigmatic earthwork that has puzzled archaeologists for decades.
The central feature is an earthen mound, 16 metres across at its base and rising 1.7 metres high, though its original dome shape has been considerably altered by modern interference that created its current rim-like appearance. First marked as a 'fort' on the earliest Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps, the site occupies a naturally defensive position on a ridge approximately 120 metres long and 25 metres wide, with steep drops to the south and east providing natural protection.
The mound isn't alone in its landscape setting; it's accompanied by a series of earthen banks that hint at a more complex defensive arrangement. Two metres east of the mound, a curving earthen bank runs 17 metres north to south across the ridge, whilst a similar bank lies two metres to the west, running in a straight line for about 25 metres. This western bank, roughly two metres wide and half a metre high, features two gaps that may have served as entrances, one at its midpoint and another at the northern end. Local tradition holds that this bank once encircled the entire mound, though the steep topography makes it difficult to imagine how this would have worked on the northern and southern sides.
The defensive nature of the site becomes clearer when examining the scarping work along the ridge's northern edge, which extends 40 metres westward and 30 metres eastward from where the western bank meets the ridge. A deliberate 10-metre-wide gap in this scarp, formed by turning the scarp inward whilst maintaining the natural slope, appears to mark an original entrance. Traces of a possible fosse around the mound's base add another defensive element to the puzzle. Whilst some features suggest a motte-and-bailey castle, possibly dating to the Anglo-Norman period, the site's true nature remains uncertain; it could equally represent an earlier Irish fortification or even a prehistoric monument that was later adapted for defensive purposes.