Dunbeg Promontory Fort (An Dun Beag)

3.2 km E of Slea Head and S of the road in the townland of Fahan. A fine (Iron Age) promontory fort built opon a triangular headland with four outer defensive banks of stone and earth cutting off the tongue of land which falls precipitously to the Atlantic Ocean below. Inside these banks is a strong stone wall which was originally straight but became curved during a later reconstruction. The side-walls of the long,lintelled entrance are recessed to hold sliding defensive beams, and have guard-chambers on each side with squint-holes for surveillance of the passage. The inner half of the wall is the older; the outer portion was added as a strengthener later. From below the passage a long souterrain leads out at least as far as the second of 4 parallel defensive stone-faced banks with ditches. From it a stone drain leads to the cliff-edge, where some traces of a curtain-wall survive. Inside the fort are the remains of a stone hut (clochan) which is round on the outside and square on the inside, and also the remains of a beehive hut. Excavations suggested a date around the 10th century A.D.