Promontory Fort

Promontory Fort (actually "Ancient Promontory Fort ", Irish Dun Cinn Tire, called in Cornwall " Cliff Castle ", as the section Wall accordingly) is the English name for bronze and Iron Age fortifications on steep cliffs, which are mostly located on peninsulas and promontories but also on escarpments inland. They are very common in the British Isles. As section fortifications they are mostly on the coast and are also known as cap on, or coastal cliff continued continued ( German: Cape, cliffs or coastal castle ) called.

Occurrence

Promontory Forts in Cornwall (eg Dodman Point, Maen Castle, The Rumps, Trereen Dinas, Trevelgue Head ) is relatively common and come in Scotland ( An Dun at Clashnessie and Hurly Hawkin at Dundee, where a Broch, a round house and a basement on the same headland lie ) and in Wales ( Berry Hill Fort, Caerau ) ago.

On the Isle of Man ( Cronk ny Merriu at Santon ) are receiving more than 20 Promontory Forts two of the past. In the Shetland Islands ( Ness of Burgi ) and the Orkney ( Brough of bigging ) there are also some. The Scottish plants ( Dun Ringill on Skye and Dun Lagaidh on Loch Broom ) are referred to as semi - Broch.

In Ireland, there are numerous Promontory Forts on the coast, such as on the island of Dalkey, or "The Great Bailey ", both in County Dublin, and inland Caherconree in the Slieve Mish Mountains on the Dingle Peninsula. The County Clare alone counts 34 and County Galway eleven plants. On the headland of Drumanagh ( Fingal County ) are the remains of the largest Promontory Forts of Ireland. Many are also some tiny islands. On larger as the Araninsel Inishmore is, for example Dun Duchathair.

They are also found in Brittany and Normandy, as well as on the Isles of Scilly.

Design and figures

Combinations of earth embankments, slopes, walls and ditches cut the necks of the promontory. The converse of this separation is the attachment of a formerly agricultural nearby island by reclaiming a connection dam. A number of coast places suffered from erosion and thus likely to have been even greater the number of facilities once. There are field names as Doonduff and Dooneen on the coast of Inishbofin and Illaundoon Iceland, pointing to earlier Promontory Forts. Of the 400 known plants in Ireland only a dozen have been excavated so far archaeologically. The results show that the monuments, although they look similar, built by the late Bronze Age, thus from 1000 BC and were sporadically used until the Late Middle Ages, that is, until 1500 AD.

By the sea

The simplest form of Promontory Forts is the separation of a headland ( Burghead Fort, Drumanagh, Knock Lane ) by means of a trench in which the excavation or the worn- rock was piled up as Wall ( Dun Duchathair ). The area behind the locking mechanism can be relatively fundarm or (more rarely) be provided with a stone ring fort, a so-called Dun, as in the case of Dunbeg Fort in County Kerry.

Inland

Inland Promontory forts are located on steep escarpments. Are particularly well known in Ireland Cahercommaun in County Clare, Knoxspark in County Sligo and Caherconree in County Kerry on the Dingle Peninsula. Berry Hill Fort in Wales.

Other clip fastenings

Comparable systems are available on Mediterranean islands such as Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula. In Sardinia, the complex is set around the sacred well of Santa Vittoria Serri at the drip line of the four kilometer long and one kilometer wide basalt plateau.