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Drumanagh Fort- Loughshinny

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  • Drumanagh Fort- Loughshinny

    Fingal County Council have announced they have purchased the 46 acres that the promontory fort of Drummagh rests on. They hope to develop it into a National Monument after the site finally undergoes archaeological excavations. Due to issues with the landowners the site has never actually had one.



    Irish Archaeology
    In the context of a possible Roman invasion one site has caused considerable controversy. This is a large coastal promontory fort at Drumanagh in north Co. Dublin. The fort occupies an area of circa 40 acres in size and is defended by three large ditches that cut off the landward approaches to the peninsula. The remainder of the site being protected by high sea cliffs. It has produced a number of artefacts of Roman origin, all of which, were found during illegal metal detecting (no archaeological excavations have been carried out at the site). These included coins dating to the reigns of Titus (AD 74-81), Trajan (AD 98-117) and Hadrian (AD 117-138), as well as Roman brooches and copper ingots (see Slayman 1996). These finds and the defensive nature of the site led some commentators to suggest that Drumanagh may represent the remains of a Roman fort. This view caused much debate and was challenged by a number of archaeologist and historians. The counter arguments were led by Professor Barry Raftery who suggested that Drumanagh was unlikely to have been a Roman military encampment but instead a local trading station linking Ireland and Roman Britain (in Slaymen 1996). It was probably populated by a mixture of Irish, Romano-British, Gallo-Roman, and others, doubtless including a few genuine Romans as well (Raftery 1996, 19).
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