<< Our Photo Pages >> Dun Aengus - Stone Fort or Dun in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Galway

Submitted by DrewParsons on Wednesday, 31 January 2018  Page Views: 25886

Multi-periodSite Name: Dun Aengus Alternative Name: Dún Aonghasa
Country: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Galway Type: Stone Fort or Dun
 Nearest Village: Kilronan
Map Ref: L817098
Latitude: 53.125892N  Longitude: 9.767958W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

jeffrep visited on 20th Apr 2008 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3

LeGuMa visited on 1st Jan 2001 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 3 It's very impressive and fascinating with the defense work of sharp pieces of limestone.

DrewParsons davidmorgan have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 5 Access: 3

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : Dun Aengus Hillfort (Vote or comment on this photo)
This is the most famous of the stone forts on the Aran Islands in Galway Bay (boats available from Galway town). Although over-restored, it is a magnificent structure perched on top of a sheer 60-metre cliff, with two rows of semicircular defences and a very fine “chevaux-de-frise” of thousands of sharp pieces of limestone set upright to impede access.

A fourth (outermost) wall is almost destroyed. A low-lintelled doorway leads in from the N. The innermost citadel (whose massive buttresses are modern) has a fine lintelled entrance, wall-walks, and chambers, and encloses an area roughly 45 metres across.

~ 2.2 km NW of Kilronan is Dun Oghil (Dún Eochla, L 863098), another massive (and over-restored) fort, circular and surrounded by the tiny stonewalled fields that are typical of the West of Ireland.
Piles of stones inside the citadel are the remains of huts, and there are terraces and stairways.

~ 7.4 km WNW of Kilronan is Dun Onaght (Dún Eoghanacht), an almost circular, single-wall fort with terraced rampart and three house-sites.

~ 2.2 km SW of Kilronan is Dun Doocaher (Dún Dubhchathair or the Black Fort), a promontory fort with remains of chevaux-de-frise outside a massive curved rampart cutting across the base of a cliff-girt promontory.

~ 3.5 km WNW of Kilronan, in Oghil is Dermot and Grania’s Bed (Leaba Dhiarmuid agus Gráinne), a fine wedge-tomb with three overlapping roofstones covering a gallery over 2.5 metres long.

~ On the middle island of the Aran group, Inishmaan, is Doon Conor (Dún Chonchúir), also over-restored but very impressive, with terraces, wall-chambers and (restored) hut-sites.

Text by Anthony Weir

Note: A possible link between Atlantic Megaliths and Crane Animism, a new book by Irish Naturalist Lorcán Ó Tuathail, who suggests Dún Aonghasa, in the Aran Islands, may have been deliberately constructed under the migratory path of cranes. More details in the comments on our page
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Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by davidmorgan : Their backs to the Atlantic Ocean. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : Dun Aengus hillfort walls with menhirs. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : Dun Aengus hillfort (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : The inner walls (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : View of the outer perimeter walls and inner fort beyond. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by davidmorgan : Gateways through the walls.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by durhamnature : Old photo from "Study of the Fort of Dun Aengus" via archive.org

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : Dun Aengus hillfort outside main wall

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : Approaching the fort from the visitor's centre.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : Chevaux de Frise at Dun Aengus Fort

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by jeffrep : Outer Wall of Enclosure, Dun Aengus, Inishmore, Aran Islands.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by durhamnature : Old photo from "Study of the Fort of Dun Aengus" via archive.org

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by durhamnature

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : Dun Aengus hillfort main wall.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by Anthony_Weir : Scan of colour slide from the 1970/80s

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : View across the enclosure

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by jeffrep : Lintelled Entrance to Dun Aengus,, Inishmore, Aran Islands.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by KaiHofmann : View from the Dun Aengus hillfort over Inishmore Island. (1 comment)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by Anthony_Weir : Scan of colour slide from the 1970/80s

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : View from Dun Aengus Fort

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by DrewParsons : The ciff edge end of the fortications at Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa on the Irish Ordnance Survey Map 2nd edition The Aran Isles 1:25 000)

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by jeffrep : Approaching Dun Aengus, the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Isles Islands, located on Inishmore at the edge of a steep cliff. Built during the Bronze Age and dating from 1,000 B.C. or before.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by jeffrep : Chevaux de Frise, Dun Aengus.

Dun Aengus
Dun Aengus submitted by jeffrep : Inner Wall in Dun Aengus on Inishmore, Aran Islands.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 938m NE 48° Ogham stone at Kilmurvy* Standing Stone (Menhir) (L8241410412)
 1.0km ENE 61° Dún Aengus Inishmore Island Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle
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 31.9km E 91° Fanmore Midden* Ancient Village or Settlement
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"Dun Aengus" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Re: Possible link between Atlantic Megaliths and Crane Animism by Homeros on Thursday, 01 February 2018
(User Info | Send a Message)
Very interesting article which reminds me of Robert Graves reference to the Crane Dance. Robert Graves' references to the Ogham alphabet and its possible origins can be found on page 230 of the White Goddess in a paragraph referring to a design on a vase with the Triple Goddess (3 Fates). This illustration features some cranes flying in V-formation, a young man with a bag, a mirror, a sickle, a tooth, and an eye. The reference to the tooth is probably about augury, the sickle to the megalith builder's (aka: Hyperboreans) pagan solsticial rite in which mistletoe was the first twig to be cut at the New Year. Perseus is of course a reference to Persian cultural or religious influence. The eye may be a symbolic reference to an astronomer's viewpoint, the sightline of navigation. The myth of Perseus seems to coincide or echo this symbolic allusion to astrological observations. Medusas' stare turns men to stone (menhirs), her hair is probably a reference to the myriad chaos in the celestial sphere. The highly polished and reflective shield of Perseus being a convenient means of observing the heavens (focal lens). The ancient Etruscans who emigrated from Tyre, also employed a calendar composed of 8 year cycles, and coincidentally were extremely fond of ceremonial mirrors made of obsidian.
[ Reply to This ]

Possible link between Atlantic Megaliths and Crane Animism by Andy B on Wednesday, 31 January 2018
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Author Lorcán Ó Tuathail suggests Dún Aonghasa, in Co Galway's Aran Islands, may have been deliberately constructed under the migratory path of cranes

Lorcán is well known to many for his work as manager of the Golden Eagle Trust and, in particular, for his pioneering reintroduction programmes for the Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle and Red Kite in Ireland.

During the past eight years, he has also been indulging his passion for another long lost bird of Ireland, the Eurasian Crane, Grus grus, researching its relationship with our ancient ancestors and the possible influences it had on their early societies, work now published in his book Corr Scéal – Crane Notions.

In this substantial book, Ó Tuathail probes deeply into the archaeology, language and ancient cultural beliefs of our Atlantic islands in search of footprints left by this once common bird, footprints which point to the existence of a vibrant pre-Christian, animist and pacifist culture in which the ‘heavenly' crane played a vital role.

The crane was a familiar part of the Irish and British avifauna up until the 16th century when it became extinct as a breeding species, probably through human persecution or an avian disease. A small flock of vagrant cranes, blown off course by severe weather, visited Ireland in 2011 when they turned up in Cork, dispersed to various wetlands and stayed most of the winter.

Ó Tuathail suggests that the interpretation of many Cor/Corr placenames throughout Ireland as references solely to local round hills is "not validated when GIS is used for toponymic verification'' and that in many instances there is "little evidence to support the presence of a hill'' at these sites.

More at
https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2017/03/25/news/take-on-nature-corr-sce-al-takes-notions-about-our-ancestors-relationship-with-cranes-972044/
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Possible link between Atlantic Megaliths and Crane Animism by Andy B on Wednesday, 31 January 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Lorcán Ó Tuathail writes: I have self-published this book and it is not really a commercial venture - it is more to generate some professional and transparent debate (or at least awareness) of the possibility of an Atlantic Crane totenism. We know that Wolves and Eagles were once important totemic animals for northern and southern Europeans. If it does generate some interest, I will try to find a UK book supplier. But in the short term I have included my own email address below - as a source for the book itself.

    Kind Regards,
    Lorcan O Toole

    ********************************************************
    Corr Scéal – Crane Notions
    A New Myth or a Forgotten Legend?
    Published by Careful Publications, November 2016
    The Eurasian Crane (Latin: Grus grus) is a bird species that once bred across Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. It became extinct across these islands around 1540-1600 AD, in late medieval times.

    * Cranes were the third most common domestic pet in ancient Ireland.
    * Cranes are the second most common bird mentioned in English placenames.
    * Crane bones are the fourth most common species of bird bone in the Irish archaeological record.

    Cranes had an elevated cultural importance in ancient China, India, Egypt and Greece, where references to Cranes described them variously as ‘Birds of Heaven,’ ‘Immortal Bird’ and ‘The Magic of the Cranes.’

    Enormous flocks of Cranes were a conspicuous feature of the inhabited world after the last ice age as well as throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and Bronze and Iron Ages.

    So, has the Crane left cultural footprints in our Atlantic Islands? And where should we look for these possible or hidden societal influences?

    After eight years of delving into the cultural remnants of a once-totemic Crane, author Lorcán Ó Tuathail presents twelve speculative storylines that shine light on a cornerstone of a forgotten and ancient Atlantic civilisation. Reaching into archaeology, language, animist beliefs and the dawning of knowledge, Ó Tuathail reframes the Crane story and calls for academic inquiry into its significance.

    As doubts are cast on some histories from the humanist and classical empires, Ó Tuathail believes it is time to look past the text of the victors and embrace the views of the vanquished, the pacifists and their forgotten, often belittled animist cultures and histories.

    Corr Scéal – Crane Notions takes a thought-provoking look at twelve enigmatic aspects of the Crane in our cultural history. Here are brief sketches of Ó Tuathail’s twelve essays:

    1 The Aran Islands
    * The Aran Islands, Co Galway, is the site of a magnificent prehistoric stone temple, Dún Aongus, located on the edge of a 300-foot-high sea cliff. Why was this location chosen?
    * Why was the ancient spiritual leader of the Aran Islands called Corbán (‘White Crane’)? And why was the first Christian settler on Aran called Naomh Éanna, meaning ‘Saint of the Birds’?
    * Why was there so much tree removal on the Aran Islands? Was it caused by fuelling fires lit to provide a lighthouse for ‘celestial’ navigators?

    2 The ‘White Crane’ Symbol
    * Was the ‘White Crane’ the totemic symbol of early Atlantic animist tribes who venerated the memory of their ancestors long before the arrival of Continental Celts?
    * The Celtic tradition suggests Lúgh (the Celtic Sun God) defeated Balor at the dawn of the Iron Age. What was the Neolithic or Bronze Age belief system of Balor?
    * Why did Chaucer once write that he dreamt of 20,000 friars flying out of the bottom of the devil, like a swarm of bees?

    3 The Coelbren Alphabet
    * Ancient letter systems were once carved in wood; their letters were entirely angular and linear in order to facilitate wood carving.
    * It is suggested that carved letters were used in

    Read the rest of this post...
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Possible link between Atlantic Megaliths and Crane Animism by Andy B on Wednesday, 31 January 2018
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    Book Review here by Julian Reynolds (requires free registration)

    https://www.academia.edu/35162290/Review_of_Corr_Sceal._Crane_Notions_by_Lorcan_O_Tuathail_2016
    [ Reply to This ]

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