South Armagh



Sunday 23 November

A fragment of the Dorsey was investigated (H952192). It consists of a massive bank running E - W and flanked by ditches. The ditch on the south is greatly overgrown but much better defined than that on the north. A second section of the earthwork was viewed from the roadside (H942190). It is greatly overgrown.


Corliss Fort (H893169) is a massive rath about 40m diameter. There is a substantial inner bank which is intact except on the west. Outside is a deep ditch and a large outer bank. The total diameter is about 70m. There is a clear entrance causeway in the east with a second smaller causeway in the south-west. Just off centre is the entrance to a small L-shaped souterrain about 10m long and 1m square throughout. It was not fully explored at this time because the floor of the inner section is covered with thick mud.


Annaghmare Court Tomb (H905178) is a very fine structure. A three-chambered gallery, about 8m long, leads from a semi-circular court. At the back of the cairn are two subsidiary tombs. The court is about 6m deep and 4m wide. It features the post-and-panel building technique, i.e. large orthostats with the spaces being filled with dry stone walling. The highest stone in the court is about 1.7m and the highest in the gallery about 1m. There is a small standing stone just inside the court.


Lisleitrim (H903208) is a very fine rath with three banks and two ditches. Towards the north edge is a small mound with some depressions which may indicate the presence of a souterrain and possibly a house platform. The diameter of the rath platform is about 42m. The middle bank is about 11m wide and the inner ditch is shallow. This suggests that the original rath platform extended to the outer edge of the middle bank and that the inner ditch may be a later modification which made the inner defensible area much smaller. A crannog on Lisleitrim Lough (H898205) was viewed from the roadside.


The megalithic structures in Clonlum were inspected. The south structure (J046206) is a round cairn about 9m diameter and less than 1m high. It contains a cist-like structure about 1.5m by 1m by 1m. A broken capstone lies to one side. It is about 2m by 1.5m. An orthostat just outside suggests an antechamber. The north structure (J045213) is a ruined court-tomb. A gallery about 8m long runs approximately N - S. There is at least one capstone, not in place, about 2m square. Only the western arm of the court is well represented. Just outside this is a small subsidiary tomb about 1.5m by 1m by 1m. The tomb is situated at the western edge of a low cairn about 20m diameter and there are good traces of a kerb.



TOURS