Drumanagh, Archaeological promontory fort in Loughshinny, Ireland
Drumanagh is an Iron Age promontory fort on a peninsula near Loughshinny, in County Fingal on the east coast of Ireland. Three parallel earth banks cut across the neck of the headland to block entry from the land, while steep cliffs drop into the sea on the other sides.
The site dates to the Iron Age and was in use when Roman traders were active along the western edges of their world. Finds from the ground point to a long period of contact across the Irish Sea, suggesting the headland was a point of arrival and exchange for goods moving between Britain and Ireland.
The headland sits surrounded by sea on three sides, giving it a remote and windswept feel that sets it apart from the farmland nearby. Visitors who gain access can walk along the earth banks and look out over the Irish Sea from the same ground where traders once moved goods.
The site sits on farmland and is not freely open to the public, so visitors should contact Fingal County Council before making the trip. Once there, the ground can be uneven and the cliffs are close, so sturdy footwear and care near the edges are both important.
More than forty copper and brass ingots were found at the site, a type of discovery far more common in Roman Britain than in Ireland. This suggests that Drumanagh may have functioned as a production or processing point for metal goods, rather than just a place where finished items passed through.
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