the cliffs near Dunbeg Fort, along DIngle Bay and Slea Head

The clifs here have fallen away, dropping parts of the rampart into the bay, and it's possible to walk right out ito the edge for some fabulous pictures. The fort itself was extensively excavated in the 70s, which found the clochan and storage areas, and signs of habitation in the central area of the fort. There are two layesr that wer excavated. The first layer is roughly 10 feet down and had only a few artifacts. The later layer had firepits and hearths in the clochan, with bones of sheep, pigs, deer, birds, and fish also found. Nothing was dateable, so it is hard to date the ruin. Probably, the fort was inhabited in the 10th or 11th centuries. Some earlier parts of the fort may date to 580 BCE, the Bronze Age.

fences keep people from the crumbling side of the ruins

I managed to fall flat on my face climbing over the rubble, and got a heck of a scratch from the chain-link fence that surrounds the entire site (probably to keep us hapless tourists from flinging ourselves over the cliff.). The fort is about 4 miles west of the town of Ventry. Entry fee of €2. Not too far up the road towards Slea Head is a group of ancient beehive huts, called the Fahan group -- over four hundred of them in a long string west of Ventry.

Dunbeg from the landward side, looking up the hill

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