This area, roughly 700 metres north to south and between 50 to 220 metres east to west, represents the highest part of the island, with cliffs rising dramatically from the Atlantic. The sheer number and variety of ancient structures here suggests this windswept promontory served as an important settlement and defensive position for centuries.

The southern section of the peninsula is accessed via a narrow 40-metre-wide isthmus that forms a natural defensive ditch. Along its inner edge stand the grass-covered remains of a stone wall, approximately 40 metres long and up to a metre high, with granite blocks still visible in places. Historical records from the Civil Survey of 1654-56 mention a ‘Little Castle’ in this area, and John O’Donovan described a square castle of lime and stone here in 1835, though no visible traces of this structure remain today. Further east, a complex system of earthworks includes a 105-metre-long bank with an accompanying fosse, several small square enclosures possibly used for storage or habitation, and at least four stone-built hut sites with walls constructed from upright stones filled with rubble.

The most impressive defensive features occupy another narrow isthmus to the north, where four massive earthen banks with three intervening ditches create formidable ramparts known locally as ‘Balor’s Fort’, named after the mythological Fomorian king. Behind these defences, on a south-facing slope offering some shelter from Atlantic storms, archaeologists have identified at least twenty hut circles; circular or oval structures up to 10 metres across with substantial earth and stone banks. Three of these are known as ‘Diarmuid and Grania’s beds’ after the legendary lovers from Irish mythology, though they appear as simple circular depressions. A rock-cut well near one of the structures would have provided fresh water to this ancient community. The eastern extremity of the site, accessed only by crossing another rock-cut fosse, contains the remains of a stone enclosure perched precariously on the cliff edge, testament to the determination of Tory’s ancient inhabitants to utilise every available space on this remote Atlantic outpost.