Hillfort, Kilskeagh, Co. Galway
Perched atop a hill in the rolling pastureland of North Galway, the Kilskeagh Hillfort stands as one of Ireland's more intriguing prehistoric defensive structures.
Hillfort, Kilskeagh, Co. Galway
This circular enclosure, measuring roughly 160 metres across, showcases the sophisticated engineering skills of our ancient ancestors through its complex system of defensive features. The fort’s design incorporates multiple layers of protection: an inner scarp that drops sharply into a fosse (defensive ditch) on the southeastern to southern sides, whilst the northwestern and northern sections feature a three-metre-wide berm; a flat ledge between the scarp and fosse. The outer defences consist of a collapsed stone bank, now overlain by a later field wall, with a shallow outer fosse filled with stone debris.
What makes this site particularly interesting is its probable original entrance, marked by a three-metre gap in the outer rampart at the southeast, with corresponding six-metre-wide causeways crossing both fosses. This careful preservation of access points suggests the fort served as much as a centre of community life as it did a defensive stronghold. The interior reveals a fascinating landscape of heavily griked limestone pavement, those distinctive grooved rock formations typical of the Burren and western Ireland, now partially concealed beneath dense hazel scrub, particularly in the eastern section. Just ten metres outside the northeastern edge of the enclosure lies an old house, suggesting the site continued to attract habitation long after its original builders had vanished into history.
Protected under a preservation order since 1937, this monument forms part of County Galway’s rich archaeological heritage. The detailed survey work carried out by archaeologists Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling for the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway has helped preserve not just the physical remains but also our understanding of how these hillforts functioned within Iron Age society; serving as centres of power, trade and refuge for the communities who built them over two millennia ago.