dunbeg fort

An Iron Age promontory fort, one of the most sophisticated monuments of its class, remarkable for the ingenious nature of its defences. It stands on a V-shaped headland in the south-west of the Dingle peninsula and while not difficult of access is unsignposted because of its hazardous condition, to which warning notices on the site draw attention. The position of Dunbeg is very exposed and parts of the cliff have been severely eroded, carrying sections of the masonry into the sea. The landward defences consist of a massive drystone wall almost 150 feet in length, extending in a roughly east to west direction across the promontory. A series of earthen banks with intervening fosses form a complex outworks. The most noteworthy feature of the fort is its entrance. of it Macalister wrote in 1898: ' in the whole of the earlier architecture I know of no more remarkable work than the imposing entrance through this great wall.' It remains much as he saw it, the passageway is about 20 feet long, roofed with large lintel stones and guarded by flanking sentry chambers contained in the thickness of the wall.