Blog Posts

Reencaheragh: a fort with monastic views

News Letter

Introduction

Boats leaving Portmagee taking passengers to the Skelligs pass by Reencaheragh Castle on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. CHERISH began studying the site because it is being actively eroded by the sea and our research has also revealed the importance of the site’s location and its’ multi-period occupation by high ranking families with links to Spain. We are very grateful to the landowner who gave us permission to survey the site in April 2018.

The castle is built on an earlier promontory fort at Doon Point near the western entrance to Portmagee Channel. The exposed fort has views to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Skellig Michael, and the early monastic site on Long Island lies only 300m to its north. Its’ beautiful coastal location means it is particularly exposed to impacts of climate change, and its erosion is gradually turning this promontory into another island. The CHERISH Project has been recording this site to monitor the rate and extent of change to this site. The record of this site was used to create a 3D model which you can use to take a virtual tour of the site.

Reencaheragh means the headland of the stone fort. The promontory fort projects 190m into the sea and a stone wall was constructed at the point where the promontory connects with the mainland (No. 4 in 3D model). This wall was probably constructed in the early medieval period and the team noticed similar construction to circular cashels such as at Cahergall near Cahersiveen, and Dunbeg on the Dingle Peninsula to the north would have had a similarly straight stone embankment before 19th century repairs (See our Dunbeg blog). The O’Falveys ruled what is today the Iveragh peninsula during the early medieval period and it was part of the regional kingdom of Corca Dhuibhne. This large strategic site in an area of farmland and marine resources suggests occupation by important families.

History of Reencaheragh

Today, the entrance to the promontory fort it is defended by the stone wall and a gatehouse (No. 1 in 3D model). In the 13th century, the MacCarthys and their relatives the O’Sullivans dominated the Iveragh Peninsula. The O’Sullivans had a branch called the MacCrohans, who ruled the area of Reencaheragh. It was probably during their ownership that the gatehouse was built and the stone wall pointed. A castle has been recorded on the site since 1576, during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, when it was called Ryncaharragh. The entrance in the stone wall beside the gatehouse may have been the original entrance.

Aerial view of the site in which you can see the stone wall and the gatehouse which defend the promontory fort
Aerial view of the site in which you can see the stone wall and the gatehouse which defend the promontory fort

The gatehouse which is rectangular in plan (6.75m E-W x 4.3m N-S) was originally two storeys in height. It is accessed through an arched entrance which the Archaeological Survey of Ireland’s record suggests was rebuilt a later date. The entrance lobby is roofed at the north end only by a pair of slabs. On either side of the entrance lobby are two intra-mural chambers (or chambers created in the thickness of the wall). The chamber on the west side contains the staircase while that on the west is roofed with lintels. Both chambers have windows or loops in the N wall, which allow light into the chambers. The staircase give access to the first floor chamber.

Shaded point cloud image of the laser scan survey carried out of the Gatehouse at Reencaheragh
Shaded point cloud image of the laser scan survey carried out of the Gatehouse at Reencaheragh

Inside the fort is a rectangular mound that may have been a house (No. 3 in 3D model). Another possible house is located to the east of the gatehouse where there is a row of upright stones. Our survey found evidence of where boats landed on the beach on the north side of the fort. Here, large stones had been removed  to make a passage where boats could easily be launched without damaging them. Further north on the next promontory were two intriguing low cairns. From here we looked longingly over the narrow channel to Long Island, where we could see the eroding ecclesiastical enclosure and wished we had time to get there – maybe next time!

The erosion of the connection between the promontory and the mainland is clearly visible in this aerial image
The erosion of the connection between the promontory and the mainland is clearly visible in this aerial image

Feelings of yearning for Reencaheragh could also be seen in the records of the inhabitants. Many O’Sullivan family leaders emigrated to Spain during the 17th century. In 1660, Charles II granted Reencaheragh to Trinity College Dublin. Tenant farmers paid rent to Trinity until 1913. Murragh O’Connor’s poem in 1719 indicates his exile from Reencaheragh:

References

King, J. (1911) History of Kerry Part V: The Kerry Bards. Easons and Sons, Dublin.

MacCotter, P. and J. Sheehan (2009) Medieval Iveragh: Kingdoms and Dynasties. In, J. Crowley & J. Sheehan (eds), The Iveragh Peninsula: A Cultural Atlas of the Ring of Kerry. Cork University Press.

Westropp, T. (1912) Notes on the Promontory Forts and Similar Structures of County Kerry. Part V. Iveragh (Valencia to Sr. Finan’s Bay) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 2, No. 4, pp. 285-324

Location Map

Read More →

Blog Posts

Rosslare Fort: Overwhelmed by waves and storms

News Letter

Introduction

A village once stood at the mouth of Wexford Harbour, guarding the entrance, fishing, and rescuing people wrecked on the sand banks offshore. Today, the buildings of this settlement known as Rosslare Fort are marked by dispersed broken stone walls, brick and wooden posts only exposed at low spring tides if shifting sand permits.

A view from the Wexford Harbour side of the spit with houses of the square to the right and jetty to the left. From the Mary Hughes collection as featured in Volume 2 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1987).
A view from the Wexford Harbour side of the spit with houses of the square to the right and jetty to the left. From the Mary Hughes collection as featured in Volume 2 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1987).

Rosslare means ‘middle promontory’ and the fort in the village name, which distinguishes it from the better-known passenger and freight Europort 10km to the south, refers to a defence against raids first marked on 16th-century maps. The sand banks in the harbour and offshore were stable enough to allow dunes and this settlement to develop at the terminus of a 200m-wide 6km-long sand spit, which connected to the mainland at the south. In the 19th-century, the village had over forty houses, pilots, pump, school, church, customs and revenue station, lighthouse, and lifeboat station. Unfortunately, sand bars and dunes are not stable forever, and severe erosion made it uninhabitable by the 1920s.

The Journey to Rosslare Fort

It was during the equinox spring tides last month that the CHERISH team returned to Rosslare Fort. It had been almost four years since our last visit in November 2017. We were keen to see how the site had changed, if new features had appeared, and monitor erosional processes affecting the remains. Online satellite images show dynamic sand movements across the harbour with islets and channels appearing and disappearing.

Marine Services drop us off at the sand bank near the harbour mouth.
Marine Services drop us off at the sand bank near the harbour mouth.

Wexford Harbour Marine Services met us at Ferrybank Quay from where we headed out passing the Ballast Bank, now unused but important enough a feature for our RIB and a local bar to be named after it. Our Ballast Bank motored slowly between the channel marker buoys, sometimes only at three knots due to the recent sand deposition. Aidan, our captain, said shifting sands led to the buoys often having to be moved and larger boats would have to come in at high tide especially when fully loaded. The shallow constantly changing channel needs experience and local knowledge to navigate: something the pilots at Rosslare Fort would have had to do for visiting trading vessels.

Identifying change

We were dropped beside the number 11 red buoy, about 700m east of the fort, where the sand bank shelved steeply enough for the boat to get close and unload our equipment. As we approached the abandoned village, walking along the shelly sand bar, we thought things looked different, we remembered a relatively sand flat approach. However, today we were on a sand bar that had small patches of grass at its highest twisting peak. It looked down on to the fort where we set up our base of operations (GPS set up for positioning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle helipad for our drone). We also noticed a new sand bank had formed seaward of the fort.

Our drone and GPS base on the sand bar with the ruins of Rosslare Fort in the distance.
Our drone and GPS base on the sand bar with the ruins of Rosslare Fort in the distance.

We walked down onto the sand flat for a visual inspection of the village remains, and to lay photogrammetric targets for the drone that could be surveyed using RTK GNSS for accurate ground control. Seals had taken over the village. Their knowledge of the channels and seafood carries on activities of pilots and fishing people that lived here. In another month or so their cubs will be where the village children swam and played. They snorted and grunted at our approach and slipped into the sea watching us keenly from the water waiting for us to go. Our suspicions of the changes were confirmed when we realised the greater extent of ruins. The posts and buildings that were only partially exposed last time were clearer and open to interpretation. Sand waves with stranded jellyfish covered the sand flat, and channels still flowed through the village as harbour water continued to empty forcing us to wade.

Walking SW from the sand bar the first group of ruins we came to, we notice the foundations and floors of possible buildings, though the uneven line of their walls indicate that severe subsidence has occurred. A nightmare for any house owner! Their colonisation by green and brown seaweeds reveals a damp health hazard along with submergence on every tide with strong currents. This suggests that the ruins have been exposed above the sand for a long period of time allowing the seaweed to grow. This is more surprising to us as photography from our previous visit confirm this area was covered by a sand bank four years ago. There is a double line of wooden posts to the east, which may have been the revenue jetty on the harbour side, when the sand spit existed. To the north there are the remains of a stone slipway and pier. These buildings could be the lifeboat house and store, and rocket post. The 1903 Ordnance Survey map shows a light house near here.

The NE area of ruins of Rosslare Fort showing house foundation and floor.
The NE area of ruins of Rosslare Fort showing house foundation and floor.
The NE area of ruins of Rosslare Fort included a slipway and pier.
The NE area of ruins included a slipway and pier.

We had to cross a shallow channel to get to the next area of ruins to the SE. This area we did remember from our last visit but it was more extensively exposed today. It was possible to make out a collapsed brick chimney and find fragments of roofing slate, coal, and rounded pottery from the wave action. An almost complete stoneware jar that we recovered here in 2017 may have been for jam or pickles.

Brick chimney in 2017 from the square area.
Brick chimney in 2017 from the square area.
Stoneware storage jar from Rosslare Fort.
Stoneware storage jar from Rosslare Fort.

As this is the largest area exposed it is easier to interpret it from the drone images we took. The wind at 20 kmph, was on the cusp of being too windy for the drone but with limited time and opportunities for the fort to be exposed, we decided to fly soon after arrival rather than wait for a possible drop in wind speed. This showed the area to be roughly square in shape so was probably the village square – a cluster of about a dozen houses that included the home of the revenue officers and families as well as the church.

Drone image of the fort in 2017.
Drone image of the fort in 2017.
Drone image of the fort in 2021 below showing the village square in the foreground.
Drone image of the fort in 2021 below showing the village square in the foreground.

Perhaps 19th-century land reclamation in the harbour and pier engineering at Rosslare Harbour exacerbated the decline of the fort, as it affected currents and sediment deposition. A Lifeboat Institution survey in 1915 reported the lighthouse had been undermined and destroyed by the sea in a gale the previous winter. They further described the sea to have been 140 feet seaward of the square in 1840, but a seawall was now necessary to protect the buildings. This stone and concrete seawall although disjointed today still holds a rough linear shape with some bends along the eastern side of the square. A pier is perpendicular to the line of this seawall.

Image of the village square November 2017.
Image of the village square November 2017.
Comparative image of the village square September 2021 we see more recent stone exposure and seaweed growth as well as damage to the marker post.
Comparative image of the village square September 2021 we see more recent stone exposure and seaweed growth as well as damage to the marker post.
Seawall and pier on western side of the square in 2017.
Seawall and pier on western side of the square in 2017.
Seawall and pier on western side of the square above in in 2021 below showing brown seaweed taking over from green.
Seawall and pier on western side of the square above in in 2021 below showing brown seaweed taking over from green.

The storms of Christmas 1924

This looks to be the pier and seawall on the seaward side of the square when occupied. From the Mary Hughes collection as featured in Volume 2 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1987).
This looks to be the pier and seawall on the seaward side of the square when occupied. From the Mary Hughes collection as featured in Volume 2 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1987).

The newspapers (held in Wexford Library) reported from Christmas Eve in 1924 until the next morning a very strong SSW gale coincided with a high tide ‘three feet above the normal springs’. Along the spit, sand hills were washed away, banks were levelled, hills became beaches, the sea flowed over from the bay into the harbour at a place called Billy’s Gap, and a house already abandoned from erosion was almost entirely washed away. At 8.30am the walls of the pilot house had fallen, as powerful waves mounted the banks and flooded ground floors. An engineer’s assessment of the damage highlighted that telephone communication to the lifeboat station had been cut making it impractical to continue. It also reported that Wexford Harbour had four entrances now as there were three breaches in the sand spit. Comments mentioned the more gradual reduction in height of the Dogger Bank, it had previously been six feet above high tide acting like a breakwater, protecting the village.

The area of the pilot station looking north towards the houses at the square in the background. The image shows the sand spit breached by the sea between the pilot station and the square. From the Larry Duggan collection as featured in Volume 1 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1985).
The area of the pilot station looking north towards the houses at the square in the background. The image shows the sand spit breached by the sea between the pilot station and the square. From the Larry Duggan collection as featured in Volume 1 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1985).
A wooden house with brick chimneys damaged by a storm. Possibly the same area as the previous image of the pilot station above due to similar materials. From the Larry Duggan collection as featured in Volume 1 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1985).
A wooden house with brick chimneys damaged by a storm. Possibly the same area as the previous image of the pilot station above due to similar materials. From the Larry Duggan collection as featured in Volume 1 of County Wexford in the Rare Oul’ Times by Nicholas Furlong and John Hayes (1985).

Surveying against the tide

From where we were surveying we could see waves breaking over a feature 200m to the southwest, close to the modern channel. Unfortunately, we could not visit due to it being submerged. These could be the ruins of houses or the area of the Pilot Jetty and Station. This shows the need for the continued monitoring as more features are uncovered.

After only a couple of hours, the tide had turned and we had to pack up and return to the RIB who had patiently waited for us in the channel. We took some last minute photographs and retrieving the markers, some of which had already been covered by the rising tide.

Recording the location of our targets as the sea returns quickly.
Recording the location of our targets as the sea returns quickly.

The remains and memories of the fort today, tell a story of a busy maritime community which played an important role in saving lives and controlling access to Wexford Harbour, and who also carried out fishing and wildfowling to make a living. Some people also holidayed and used the resort as a base for deep sea fishing. Many of the houses, possibly the fort and even a reported Martello Tower, are still covered by the sand. When exposed by the tides and sand, the site is a visible reminder of the power of the sea and an example of landscape change from erosion affecting communities. This must have happened in many areas of Ireland over its thousands of years of habitation, and to coasts globally. However rising sea levels, increased precipitation, and the occurrence of severe storms predicted by climate change, many more coastal settlements are going to be affected.

Back home we have started to compare old photographs and descriptions of the fort with what we saw on the site visit and recorded by drone so we can start to interpret the ruins.
Back home we have started to compare old photographs and descriptions of the fort with what we saw on the site visit and recorded by drone so we can start to interpret the ruins.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Darina Tully for information on the village, Gráinne Doran from Wexford County Archives for letting us look through their old photographs, and Wexford Harbour Marine Services Captain Phil Murphy and Aidan Bates for taking us there. The description of the layout of the settlement in the Rosslare Lifeboat Memorial website helped to interpret where we explored.

Location Map

Read More →

Tool kit

Archival Research

News Letter

Archival Research

Archives of museums, government organisations, libraries and research bodies have historical documents that assist with the analysis of coastal change. They also allow study into the importance of the heritage under threat by revealing finds and important events. Many of these sources are becoming publicly accessible on websites.

Historical Maps

The British Library in London has atlases, maps and charts of harbours drawn for trade and defence. They also have drawings by visitors and officials of the towns and countryside. Many of the historical charts and sailing directions from the Admiralty have moved to the British Library but some remain in Taunton. This includes the hand-drawn surveys by the sailors. Charts often include sailing views of how the coast directly looked to the surveyors.

National Archives Kew has titles to shipwrecks, letters from captains about storms and dangers to shipping from the 17th century, construction of Napoleonic coastal defences, and correspondence about harbour improvements. The National Archives of Ireland has similar harbour development such as the 19th-century dredging of the River Boyne that removed ancient fords but allowed access upriver to Drogheda.

The National Library of Ireland includes piloting directions around the coast. Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin have map libraries and online resources. The National Museum of Ireland has a topographic archive of correspondence and descriptions about artefact discoveries. The National Monument Service holds many records of archaeological sites, including a shipwreck inventory, with information on surveys and excavations. This includes aerial surveys and older photographs of coastal monuments to compare with the site today.

Antiquarian Illustrations

Museums such as the National Maritime Museums in Dunlaoghaire and Greenwich have further charts, drawings and photographs on display. They also have artefacts for comparison with that found on coastal surveys. This can lead to understanding navigation and use of the coastal sites.

Sailing view of Annestown Beach with Woodstown promontory on the right from 1847 Survey of the South Coast of Ireland between the Bays of Tramore and Dungarvan by G. A Frazer (UKHO, L7194).
Sailing view of Annestown Beach with Woodstown promontory on the right from 1847 Survey of the South Coast of Ireland between the Bays of Tramore and Dungarvan by G. A Frazer (UKHO, L7194).
The Royal Irish Academy and Geological Survey Ireland have many images made by early documenters of the coast such as Thomas Westropp and George Du Noyer. Du Noyer was a geologist who painted coastal scenes in the 19th century. Westropp described many promontory forts around the turn of the last century.

There are further more local archives for counties, towns and harbours such as Dublin Civic, Dublin County, and Dublin Port. Then there are private archives, accessed with special permission, such as Woodhouse Estate in Stradbally, Co. Waterford.

Sailing view of the landing place on Great Saltee from 1847 survey of the Saltee Islands and adjacent Coast by G. A. Frazer (UKHO, L6207).
Sailing view of the landing place on Great Saltee from 1847 survey of the Saltee Islands and adjacent Coast by G. A. Frazer (UKHO, L6207).

Historical Documents

Historical documents can provide precisely dated, detailed descriptions of weather observations. These can be used to extend records of instrumental observations and to calibrate and increase confidence in natural archives of climate variability such as those from tree rings or sediments. Of particular interest for CHERISH are meteorological observations found in harbour, coastguard and lighthouse log books, where readings of pressure, wind direction, rainfall and temperature were noted often several times a day over many years. Many sources are yet to be digitised and transcribed into a usable format for climatological research although a huge effort is ongoing to rescue weather data through citizen science initiatives such as the Old Weather Project and Weather Rescue. We aim to retrieve records from CHERISH project study areas for analysis and to make them available for the scientific community.
The opening page of the diary of Joseph Jenkins of Trecefel, Tregaron in Cardiganshire describes on Monday 7th January 1839 ‘a complete hurricane which blows down timbers, roofs of houses and so on.’ The storm of 6th – 7th January 1839 caused devastating loss of life and damage in Ireland and is remembered as ‘The Night of the Big Wind’. Its impacts in Wales are less well documented.
The opening page of the diary of Joseph Jenkins of Trecefel, Tregaron in Cardiganshire describes on Monday 7th January 1839 ‘a complete hurricane which blows down timbers, roofs of houses and so on.’ The storm of 6th – 7th January 1839 caused devastating loss of life and damage in Ireland and is remembered as ‘The Night of the Big Wind’. Its impacts in Wales are less well documented.

Archival sources not only contribute to the construction of detailed time climate and weather histories but also provide a deeper narrative of an individual or community’s experience of extreme weather. Here, we can examine the ways in which people responded to specific events, how prepared they were and the types of coping strategies that were adopted. There is a wealth of material housed in our national repositories at the National Library of Wales and the National Archives of Ireland as well as in numerous regional archives and libraries. Members of the CHERISH team have been involved in the development of a database (TEMPEST) of narrative accounts of historical weather extremes across the UK as part of the AHRC funded project Weather Extremes. We will be building on this and previous research in Ireland (e.g. Sweeney, 2002) by gathering evidence on historical storms, flooding and coastal change and associated impacts from a range of sources such as personal diaries and correspondence; travelogues; newspaper reports; log books; maps; charts and literary sources.

Related Content

Other Activities

Read More →

Blog Posts

The Crumbling Promontory Fort of Dunbeg

News Letter

The National Monument of Dunbeg, which translates as the little fort, is a popular tourist attraction in County Kerry with its distinctive rows of defences and spectacular views over Dingle Bay to Valentia Island and the World Heritage Site of Skellig Michael. Unfortunately, the site has been periodically closed to the public for repairs and safety measures as the sea continues to erode the cliffs. This erosion is particularly severe during storms, and storms are predicted to become more severe with climate change.

When you approach the promontory from the road, you walk through four banks, five ditches, and an inner drystone rampart. A central causeway crosses the banks to the rampart but people are encouraged to walk on the eastern side of the fort due to erosion at the entrance. An underground stone-built passage, known as a souterrain, extends for over 16m from the rampart to the third bank. A stone-flagged pathway did lead from the rampart entrance to a circular drystone structure known as a clochán in the interior of the fort

Views of the fresh cliff face of Dunbeg showing bank, ditches and rampart in centre and clochán to the right in April 2019
Views of the fresh cliff face showing bank, ditches and rampart in centre and clochán to the right in April 2019

We have a relatively good record of changes at this site as the promontory fort attracted the attention of19th century antiquarians and geologists as well as 20th-century tourists. George Du Noyer’s visited and recorded the site in 1856, and the triangular-shape promontory he drew has been indented up to 35m along its western side which sits on the 30m-high cliffs. This has resulted in the fort becoming more crescent-moon shape in plan today.

The entrance to Dunbeg (George Du Noyer in Archaeological Journal March 1858 vol. 15)
The entrance to Dunbeg (George Du Noyer in Archaeological Journal March 1858 vol. 15)
How it looks today with the original entrance to Dunbeg after collapse in April 2019
How it looks today with the original entrance to Dunbeg after collapse in April 2019 © Photographic Archive, National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland.

Human activity in the 19th century also impacted the fort, with hare hunters overturning stones, and stone being taken for building elsewhere. Drystone field walls that once crossed the fort banks and ditches were removed during Office of Public Works (OPW) restoration in 1892. The OPW also repaired the roof of one of the two guard chambers that sat on either side of the rampart wall entrance. The western guardhouse is no longer extant. The OPW repairs also made a curve at the rampart’s terminals and inserted a boundary wall. Previous plans of the site indicated there had been a straight rampart wall.

In 1897, Thomas Westropp said around 3m of land has fallen on the western side in the last 20 years. Professor R.A.S. MacAlister, later of University College Dublin, records that he visited the site in 1896 and again in 1898 and in that time the western end of the stone rampart had eroded into the sea. Another OPW visit in September 1915 sketches the disappearance of 9.5m of the western side of the rampart since 1897 and ground fissures, a sign of impending instability, were also shown.

In 1977, the OPW and National Monuments Service commissioned an excavation to examine the site, its dating and history of occupation before more features were lost. A view from the inside of the fort looking at the rampart wall shows the cliff erosion from the west had reached the western guardhouse to the side of the covered entrance. Excavation led by Professor Terry Barry from Trinity College Dublin revealed post holes, hearths and stake holes within the clochán and suggested wattle shelters supported by wooden posts and stakes. Analysis of occupation debris indicated a diet of pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, deer, birds and fish. Radiocarbon dates suggest it was inhabited in the 10th or 11th centuries AD. Further excavation at the rampart revealed an earlier shallow ditch radiocarbon dated to the 6th century BC. This indicates a long history of use at the site, though it may not have been continuous.

A mid-20th century image with the entrance repaired and two guard houses either side of the entrance.
A mid-20th century image with the entrance repaired and two guard houses either side of the entrance.
he 1970s view on the right shows the left guardhouse has started to be eroded. © Photographic Archive, National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland.
he 1970s view on the right shows the left guardhouse has started to be eroded.© Photographic Archive, National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland.

Within the last 7 years, the cliff has been experiencing another period of instability. In January 2014, a storm resulted in the southern side of the entrance through the rampart collapsing causing a section to fall away close to the passageway through the stone rampart. The CHERISH Project began early in 2017 and has been recording the latest changes with regular drone and laser scanner surveys. In December 2017, the site had to be closed again after flash flooding down Mount Eagle caused stream erosion within the fort causeway, banks and ditches. Then during Storm Eleanor on 3rd January 2018, most of the covered entrance through the rampart and the ground below collapsed into the sea. The last covered area of this entrance had collapsed by our next visit in April 2019.

Photograph of Dunbeg in April 2018 showing collapse entrance through the rampart
Photograph of Dunbeg in April 2018 showing collapse entrance through the rampart
Photograph of Dunbeg in April 2019 showing collapse entrance through the rampart
Photograph of Dunbeg in April 2019 showing collapse entrance through the rampart
Image of Dunbeg taken in December 2017 (wooden supports were erected in the 1980s)
Image of Dunbeg taken in December 2017 (wooden supports were erected in the 1980s)
Image of Dunbeg taken in April 2019 displaying very recent collapse of the entrance through the rampart from the southern side
Image of Dunbeg taken in April 2019 displaying very recent collapse of the entrance through the rampart from the southern side

Location Map

Read More →

Blog Posts

Mining and Erosion along the Copper Coast

News Letter

Waterford’s Copper Coast, with its proliferation of promontory forts and reports of severe erosion, is a case study area for the CHERISH project. The area is known as the Copper Coast after the mineral deposits there that were mined extensively from 1824 to 1908.

At least 26 promontory forts survive on cliffs of up to 70m high and research at Irish promontory forts including Drumanagh and Dalkey Island in Co. Dublin and Dunbeg in Co. Kerry suggest their use from the Iron Age to early medieval periods. Ogham stones recorded along the Co. Waterford coast at Knockmahon, Island and Kilgrovan suggest that there were ecclesiastical sites in the surrounding area in the 5th- to 7th-century.

The National Museum of Ireland’s (NMI) topographic files record the finding of a number of objects in the area which indicate a long history of mining. The Reverend Patrick Power (1909) described a circular copper ingot of Romano-British Type found around 6km upstream from the estuary at Bunmahon. A group of finds given to the NMI in 1850 included two paddle-shaped instruments of oak found a depth of 20m. They were ‘apparently of great age’ in the 19th century. The description of their long narrow handles and spoon-shaped blades indicate that they could have been used to gather up broken fire-cracked rock, a product of the mining process. An Irish 17th-century trade token found near Knockmahon Castle could have been lost by merchants or seafarers transporting the natural resources produced by mining activity.

While undertaking aerial surveys and geophysical surveys on the promontory forts on the Copper Coast, the CHERISH team has inevitably come across the evidence of the mining: adits or entrances to underground mines in the cliffs, mine shafts and spoil heaps above the cliffs, along with ore yards and engine houses.

The mineral resources of the Copper Coast may have been important since prehistoric times, although much of that evidence has probably been disturbed by post-medieval mining and erosion. Sixteenth century historical sources record mining near Knockmahon promontory fort and in the mid-18th century, Francis Wyse from Waterford City, took a lease for the mineral rights west of Bunmahon (Cowman, 1983). Above the beach west of Bunmahon Head promontory fort, in Templeyvrick townland, the entrance to underground mines can be seen. Many mines along the coast were worked for up to 400m out to sea.

 

Templeyvrick mines on Trawnamoe Strand beside Bunmahon Head.
Templeyvrick mines on Trawnamoe Strand beside Bunmahon Head.

Beside the Knockmahon promontory fort is a landing place called Stage Cove. It has a modern concrete slipway today but at low tide it is possible to see that the access through the bedrock has been cleared. This would have allowed larger vessels to land and access the ore yard. In 1863, copper ore was being shipped from here to market in Liverpool and Swansea, when weather permitted boats to come close to the shore (Du Noyer, 1865). A UKHO chart dating from 1849 depicts vessels anchored off the ore yard in a sailing view.

 

Stage Cove landing place at low tide, Knockmahon
Stage Cove landing place at low tide, Knockmahon
UKHO sailing view from 1849 showing ore yard and engine houses around Knockmahon (L7194).
UKHO sailing view from 1849 showing ore yard and engine houses around Knockmahon (L7194).

Thirteen adits have been recorded into the cliff at Illaunobrick promontory fort or Danes Island in the townland of Ballynarrid. It has been suggested that the mines in the area could have been worked in the Bronze Age. This has been refuted by Historian Des Cowman (1982) using local records and through the identification of a drill hole which suggests that most of the evidence we see today are the result of are Industrial period mines. Mostly inaccessible today, these mines have contributed to the cliff erosion and there is very little trace of the promontory fort embankment defences today with only an impassable ‘goat track’ onto the stack. The 1840 edition of the Ordnance Survey map marks ‘site of entrenchment’ on the landward side of Illaunobrick and Thomas Westropp (1914-16) says it was nearly gone by 1841. Local knowledge records cliff rock falls around Ballynarrid and the neighbouring townland of Ballydowane in the 1970s and 80s.

 

Illaunobrick with mines into the cliff
Illaunobrick with mines into the cliff

This abundant heritage of the Copper Coast indicates this was an area with rich mineral, marine and agricultural resources, attracting settlement that traded across the Irish and Celtic Seas perhaps as far back as the Iron Age. The surveys conducted to date allow us to create a baseline record of the site against which future erosion can be measured. It also allows us to cast further light on the varied history of the region from prehistory to the more recent past.

References

  • Cowman, D. (1982) Bronze-Age Copper-Mines at Dane’s Island. Decies 20: 22-7.
    Cowman, D. (1983) Thomas (“Bullocks”) Wyse: A Catholic Industrialist during the Penal Laws, I. Decies 24: 8-13.
  • Du Noyer, G. (1865) Explanation to Accompany Sheets 167, 168, 178, and 179 of the Maps and Sheet 13 of the Longitundinal Sections of the Geological Survey of Ireland illustrating Parts of the Counties of Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Tipperary. Hodges, Smoth and Co., Dublin.
  • Power, P. (1909) ‘On an ancient (prehistoric?) copper ingot from Bonmahon’, J Waterford SE Ir Archaeol Soc 12, 86-89.
  • Westropp, T 1906, ‘Notes on certain promontory forts in the counties of Waterford and Wexford’, J Roy Soc Antiq Ir 36, 239-58.
  • Westropp, T. 1914-16, ‘Fortified headlands and castles on the south coast of Munster: Part II, from Ardmore to Dunmore, Co. Waterford’, Proc Roy Ir Acad C 32, 188-227.
  • Westropp, T. (1920) The Promontory Forts and Traditions of the Beare and Bantry, Co. Cork Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 10 (2): 140-159.

Location Map

Read More →
en_GBEN