This rugged landscape, measuring roughly 700 metres north to south and between 50 to 220 metres east to west, represents the island’s highest point, with cliffs rising dramatically from the Atlantic. The area’s natural defences have been enhanced over centuries with human fortifications, beginning at the southern section where a narrow 40-metre-wide isthmus creates a natural ditch. Here, visitors can still trace the grass-covered remains of a stone wall, approximately 40 metres long and up to a metre high, with granite blocks visible in places. Local records from the 1650s mention a ‘Little Castle’ in this vicinity, though no clear remains of the structure survive today.

Moving northward through the peninsula reveals an extraordinary defensive complex known locally as Balor’s Fort, named after the mythological Fomorian giant. This formidable earthwork consists of four massive banks with three intervening ditches, rising progressively with the natural slope. A narrow causeway cuts through these defences, tapering from five metres wide on the southern approach to just two metres at the inner side. Behind these ramparts, the peninsula opens into a sheltered, south-facing slope where at least twenty stone hut circles are scattered across the landscape. These structures, typically circular or oval with diameters reaching ten metres, were built directly on the island’s rocky surface, their earthen and stone banks still visible up to three metres wide. Among them stands a rock-cut well, whilst further east, three sites known as ‘Diarmuid and Grania’s’ appear as circular depressions, their original purpose lost to time.

The easternmost section of the peninsula extends into the sea as Tor-more, a blade-edge tower of rock that remains virtually inaccessible. Where this dramatic outcrop joins the main peninsula, a level area protected by sheer cliffs on all sides offers one final defensive position. Access is restricted by a rock-cut ditch measuring ten metres across and one and a half metres deep, beyond which stands a collapsed stone enclosure perched precariously on the cliff edge. Despite extensive archaeological survey work, no local traditions explain the original purpose of these ancient structures, though their strategic position seven miles from the Donegal mainland; commanding views across the northern approaches; certainly suggests they served defensive and possibly ceremonial functions for the island’s early inhabitants.