forts historical galway

The length of trail is 8km (5 miles). The actual walking will take you 2 - 2.5 hours, but there is a lot to see on the Trail, so you should allow 4 - 5 hours if you are to enjoy it fully.

The route is marked by yellow arrows on limestone plaques, with an occasional - walking man - symbol. There are stiles wherever you need to cross a wall....

Only remains of the earthen wall to suggest former fort, but a depression in the northwest portion reveals a low lintel stone over a small opening. Through the opening is an excellent example of a soutrerrain i.e. a manmade, subetrrain structure built for purposes of storage and protection in time of attack.

The Gortaboy Souterrain contains 3 spacious chambers, connected by two - traps - low crawl spaces designed to slow down anyone attempting to get inside....

This site was regarded as one of the most potentially significant sites in the entire area. A Promontory Fort is essentially a defensive structure and they have been dated to the Early Iron Age. This one consists of an extensive and very well preserved complex of earthworks with wide views of Kinvara Bay.

The tomb consists of a simple chamber, with sides and back formed of large single stones, capped with a roofstone. The smaller field stones on top are perhaps remains of the original e...

Aughrim, just off the main road to Galway, and 8km from Ballinasloe was the scene of the Battle of Aughrim on 12th July 1691, which largely decided the outcome of the course of Irish History.

Here the Williamite forces defeated the mainly Catholic Irish and French forces under the leadership of the French General, St Ruth, who was killed in the battle. There are two ringforts situated here each with a diameter of about 100 feet and surrounded by a six foot high bank....

Eochaill fort is situated about 1km south/south-east of the old lighthouse. It is one of the great forts of the island and has two concentric dry masonery ramparts, the inner one terraced. In the inner enclosure are the remains of two clochans. The fields to the west and south are littered with ancient remains....

Dubh Cathair, or Doocaher, 'The Black Fort', is one of several large stone-built fortifications on Inismore, Aran. Historically, it has received less attention than famed Dun Aengus, 3.5 miles to the north-west, but is scarcely less remarkable a structure and may in fact be considerably older - though none of the Aran forts has been closely dated so far.

The defences at Dubh Cathair consist of a great drystone wall some 200 feet long, curving across the neck of a cliffed limestone...

This magnificent caher or stone fort, is the most impressive and awe-inspiring of all the Aran Forts. Its three outer walls, with the exception of the remnants of the inner curtain, have disappeared but the massive fortress wall itself, built of stones, is almost intact.

Standing with its northern part on a cliff over a small valley, it measures 70m from north to south and 35m from east to west....

Two ringforts in neighbouring fields, each with a diameter of about 100 feet and each surrounded by a bank, about 6 feet high, outside which is a ditch.
It was in the one nearest the road that the Jacobean general St. Ruth died in battle against the Williamite forces on 12 July 1691.
The defeat brought an end to the hopes of James 11, and heralded one hundred of the blackest years in Irish history....

Dun Aengus is a fantastic example of a stone fort which is thought to be over 2000 years old! It is perched on top of a cliff edge about 300 ft above the Atlantic Ocean.
The fort is said to have been built by Aonghusa who was a chief of the Fir Bolg - so it translates as the 'Fort of Aonghusa'.
The impressive stone fort has three enclosures to defend against the enemy. If you look closely enough at one of the walls you will notice vetical, jagged rocks pertruding at an angle....

A focal point of the northern midlands where the provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Connaught all converge, Longford, where history and literature, tragedy and triumph are all woven together, takes its name from the ancient stronghold of the O'Farrell family (Long Fort - Fort of the O'Farrells).

Bordered to the West by the majestic River Shannon, Longford is a county of rolling plains and picturesque stretches of water. The highest pint of the county, Cairn Hill, is only 279 m high, bu...