Part 2: Chapter 14: Kilmurry Parish: Drumullan Townland

Description of site:
Here we have the site of a double banked ringfort, with intervening fosse, which is very close to the southern shore of Teereen Lough. The site is in a fairly good condition possibly due to the swampy nature of the surrounding land where only limited agriculture is practised.

Though represented on the relevant 6” O.S. sheet as an “Ordinary” ringfort field examination did not find this the case. The outer bank is stone faced, on both its outer and inner faces. This is best represented in the south-western section. Here the central earth and small stone filling is gone leaving two parallel lines of foundation stones, on average 1.5 metres apart. In the north-eastern section the central filling and stone facing can both be observed though the latter is not as clearly defined as in the south-western part. On average throughout the site the outer stone-faced bank is .25 - .50 metres high by 1.5 – 2.00 metres wide.

What of the inner bank? This also has evidence of stone facing, again on both sides of the bank. The only area where this is especially clear is in the north-eastern section. Generally on the inner bank the stone facing is only well preserved on the inner face, with only limited traces on its outer face. This inner bank is best represented in its eastern half with an average height of .50 metres and a width of 1.5 – 2.0 metres. Though the width is similar in the western area the average height is now only .25 metres.

The fosse can be traced all around the site. On average it is 3.0 – 4.0 metres wide. Its greatest depth is in the far eastern area where it is 1.5 metres deep below the site’s interior. The average depth throughout the remainder of the site centres on 1.0 metres.

The interior of the site is circular in shape. The east-west internal diameter centres on 24 metres while that for the north-south area is slightly larger at 25.5 metres.

The only entrance into this interior, through the banks and across the fosse, is in the eastern part of the site. It has an average width of 2.0 metres and a length of 7.0 metres.

In many ways, especially in the presence of stone facing to the banks, this site is similar to the nearby (1/2 mile distant, to the east) ringfort in Shandangan West Townland (Site A) Kilmurry Civil Parish.

Drumullan C: Distant photo taken towards this site, from Tinker’s Hill to the east.
This ringfort is within a short distance of Teereen Lough.