forts historical ireland

The most celebrated and dramatic site in the county. It was purchased by the state from the estate of Lord Congleton about four years ago, and taken into its care and protection. Its name is from Dun Masg "the fort of Masg". An important fortress before the Normans, it was granted to Strongbow in 1170 by Diarmait Mac Murchada as part of his daughter Aoife's dowry, and became the Normans' most important fortification. Wiliam Earl Marshall, the most famous and honourable Norman, lived here in t...

A Celtic hill fort, sometimes called Hacklim Cave, a low earthen mound where, according to legend, Gearoid Iarla (Garret the Earl of Kildare) and a troop of his warriors sit in an enchanted sleep....

This is a circular fort, repaired before 1860, with a stone wall 95 feet in diameter.
It is entered at the north-east through a narrow entrance with a small sentry chamber on the right. Just to the left of the entrance is a stone with a cross inscribed on it.

In the interior of the fort are the foundations of a square building, at one corner of which is the entrance to a souterrain.
outside the entrance of the fort is a large boulder with cup-marks....

Aughrim, just off the main road to Galway, and 8km from Ballinasloe was the scene of the Battle of Aughrim on 12th July 1691, which largely decided the outcome of the course of Irish History.

Here the Williamite forces defeated the mainly Catholic Irish and French forces under the leadership of the French General, St Ruth, who was killed in the battle. There are two ringforts situated here each with a diameter of about 100 feet and surrounded by a six foot high bank....

This is located opposite the entrance to Bishop Lucy Park.
The fountain was built in 1860 and named after Walter Berwick, a one time chairman of the Quarter sessions. It marks the centre point of a bridge crossing that which was once a city canal....

Promontory and Hill forts 500 BC - 500 AD Defence Structures and Refuge of last Resort during the Iron Age....

Crookedwood, almost 7 miles from Mullingar, dates back to the old legends of Fionn and the Fianna. A 14th century stone roofed church, called the Church of Taughmon can be found here and behind it lies a ring fort. If you return to the main road and take the direction of Castlepollard, you can see Lough Derravaragh, associated with the legend of "The Children of Lir" changed into swans for 900 years by their jealous stepmother, they spent 300 years of that time on this lake before being return...

Dun Aengus is a fantastic example of a stone fort which is thought to be over 2000 years old! It is perched on top of a cliff edge about 300 ft above the Atlantic Ocean.
The fort is said to have been built by Aonghusa who was a chief of the Fir Bolg - so it translates as the 'Fort of Aonghusa'.
The impressive stone fort has three enclosures to defend against the enemy. If you look closely enough at one of the walls you will notice vetical, jagged rocks pertruding at an angle....

One of many legends regarding the origins of the mound says that it is the burial place of Amergin, an early Celtic poet, but it has also been suggested that it was possibly a large passage grave like Newgrange. It was fortified as a motte by the Normans in the 12th century and a castle was later built on its summit. The fort offered Cromwell the strongest resistance he encountered during the siege of 1649, and the Governor of the town, Sir Arthur Aston, was killed here in the course of combat...

An earthen ringfort with concentric bank and ditch, with the remains of a monumental flat-headed stone doorway of A.D. C. 1000 on the eastern side....