2012:586 - Dunnalong Fort, Dunnalong, Tyrone

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Tyrone Site name: Dunnalong Fort, Dunnalong

Sites and Monuments Record No.: TYR001-002 Licence number: AE/12/100

Author: Paul Logue

Site type: 17th-century campaign fort

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 637804m, N 910449m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.940298, -7.410029

In summer 2012, geophysical survey and an evaluative excavation took place at Dunnalong Fort on the border between modern Cos. Tyrone and Derry. The Fort, one of Henry Docwra’s key strongholds during his early 17th-century campaign in the Foyle region, is well documented in contemporary maps and accounts, while cartographic sources and aerial photography provided an indication of its location. The 2012 survey enabled the precise identification of the fort’s location and defined its perimeter, as well as informing the excavation strategy.
Three evaluation trenches were excavated over anomalies identified by the survey. Trench 1 initially measured 10m x 1m and was positioned over the curtain of the western bastion of the fort as imaged. Trench 2 lay to the south-east of Trench 1 and targeted a magnetic spike identified as the probable site of a building. As the excavation proceeded, Trench 2 was extended by 2m both to the north-east and south-west, and was eventually connected to Trench 1. The area of the combined and extended trenches was approximately 30m2. A third trench, Trench 3 was located over the interface between the ordinary ground and an area of magnetic disturbance probably representing landfill, as it was suspected the eastern edge of the fort was concealed by the landfill. Trench 3 measured 3m x 1m. Trenches 1 and 2 were in a field to the west of the modern Dunnalong Road, while Trench 3 was located in a field to the east.
The excavation of Trench 1 confirmed the 17th-century reports that, in the area of the western bastion at least, the curtain of the fort consisted of a significant ditch with an internal earthen rampart. The ditch was up to 6.5m wide and was cut to a depth of almost 2m below the modern ground surface. The outer slope of the ditch was notably the more gradual, sloping down to the rounded, U-shaped base, before rising more sharply to the interior of the fort in a gradient punctuated by a pronounced step. The presence of the step is significant, as such a feature is recorded in 17th-century military manuals as part of the constructional techniques employed in the erection of earth-and-sod defences. The remains of the base of the rampart, also 6.5m wide, survived immediately inside the ditch and confirmed the formidable nature of the fort’s defences. The largest deposit within the ditch occurred approximately 0.6m below the ground surface and consisted of a layer of yellow clay, which contained 17th-century artefacts including red brick fragments, a clay pipe stem, caliver shot and sherds of 17th-century pottery. This deposit was interpreted as an early, deliberate, attempt to fill in the ditch sometime in the 17th century, and probably soon after the fort had gone out of military use. Few artefacts were found in the earlier ditch fills, although among these was a possible piece of lead buck shot bearing the scars of impact. The relative sterility of these lower layers, and indeed the presence of the possible spent projectile, may indicate that these deposits had accumulated during the three years of Docwra’s campaign, while the ditch was still open and maintained as a defensive feature. A large pit containing deposits rich in charcoal and quantities of iron slag had been cut into the interior side of the rampart. This suggests that iron working was carried out in this area and it is hoped further study of this material will ascertain if it was associated with the period of the fort’s use. A single, unstratified sherd of Medieval Ulster Coarseware pottery attested to a native Irish presence at the site. A large, charcoal-rich, burnt spread, probably the remnant of a fire, was found beneath the material of the rampart, but no artefacts were found to date it.
In Trench 2, immediately inside the rampart of the western bastion, the excavation unearthed a cluster of post-holes, coinciding with the geophysical hotspot. The post-holes had diameters of 0.18m, 0.21m and 0.14m, and respective depths of 0.2m, 0.17m and 0.1m. They were cut into a layer of compacted silty clay loam which lay on top of the natural clay subsoil in that part of the trench, and may have represented the ground surface within the fort. The use of fir posts in the construction of buildings at Dunnalong was recorded in contemporary records and the position of the post-holes in the site stratigraphy suggests that they were probably coeval with the earthen rampart. It is therefore probable that, although only a small corner of it was unearthed, the post-holes represented the remains of a wooden building dating to the period of the fort’s occupation. The 17th-century maps of Dunnalong Fort consistently depicted rows of wooden buildings within the fort and it may be that these post-holes formed part of such a structure, perhaps housing soldiers of Docwra’s garrison during his campaign. A later wooden structure was partially superimposed on the plan of this earlier post-built structure. Again, only a corner of this later structure lay within the excavated area, but it was built using posts and a slot trench. No artefacts were found to closely date this later structure but it is believed to post-date the fort occupation.
No material of archaeological significance was recovered from Trench 3 as the excavation in this area was discontinued when a functioning waterpipe was uncovered. It was therefore not possible to ascertain whether the fort’s defences survived beneath the modern landfill deposits.
Post-excavation analysis and dating of the material retrieved during the excavation is continuing at the time of writing. There is therefore the potential that additional information on Docwra’s campaign at Dunnalong, as well as the earlier Gaelic occupancy of the site, will be produced from this excavation.

Senior Inspector, Historic Monuments Unit, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Waterman House, 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast and Ronan McHugh, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast.