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BRONZE AGE HILLFORTS OF COOLAGAD AND DOWNSHILL

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Mast on summit of Coolagad Hillfort

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View from Coolagad

 

O'Driscoll, O'Brien and Hawkes, the current experts in Irish Hillforts, explain their significance:

"Hillforts are the largest prehistoric monuments in the Irish landscape. Their imposing nature points to the significance they held in economic, political and other terms for complex societies of the Bronze Age in particular. Excavation confirms these were centres of high-status residence, specialist crafts and trade, used for military purposes and assembly, as well as for ritual and ceremony. Their prominent siting was strategic, connected not only to control of routeways but part of a highly visible display of political and military power in the landscape. As with their British counterparts, the scale and logistics of hillfort construction in Ireland are impressive, with extensive clearance of land and the building in many cases of several kilometres of artificial defences enclosing areas of up to 10 ha and more."

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Coolagad and Downshill Hillforts being destroyed by Forestry Plantations:

"Hill forts are vulnerable to other developments, the most serious being high-density planting of conifers ... 20% have been impacted in a serious manner by State-subsidised forestry ... In the worst cases planting, preceded by clearance and deep ploughing, extended across all or most of the Hillfort interior. This has taken place at the Class 1 Hill forts of Coolagad (and) Downshill ... This occurred despite prior knowledge of these hillforts, with many examples of harvesting and re-planting forest at those same locations" (James O'Driscoll, Alan Hawkes & William O'Brien Chapter 5 - the Irish Hillfort: in Hill forts Britain Ireland and the Nearer Continent 2017)

Views from Coolagad Hillfort

Views from Downshill Hillfort

Ramparts & Walls Downshill

 GLEN O DOWNS HERITAGE - ANCIENT HISTORY TO MODERN DAY BIODIVERSITY

The Greater Glen of the Downs Area, Ancient Royal territory of Fera Cuala (Uí Briuin Cualann), is a very special place indeed significant for its natural, archaeological, aesthetic, and cultural heritage.

The area encompasses the 12,000 year old Glacial Valley in its dramatically beautiful setting at Glen of the Downs. The Valley, famed for its ancient Sessile Oak forest, is a Nature Reserve, hugely important for local biodiversity,  through which the Ancient Three Trout Stream runs giving life as it flows. Glen of the Downs is nestled between the two 3000 year old Bronze Age Hillforts of Coolagad and Downshill, once occupied by King of Dublin Sitric Silkenbeard and Uagaire King of Leinster who fought against each other in the Battle of Delgany 1022. Downshill, the ancient name of which is Dúin Caillighe Béirre - referencing the Ancient Irish Goddess of Nature Caileach Bearra. 

Calary at  the foot of the Great Sugar Loaf is the location of ringforts, an Ancient Royal Highway and a beautiful hill known as the Royal Meeting Place. The 18th Century LaTouche Estate at Bellevue Demesne lies equidistant between the hillforts - the Gardens once home to the largest glasshouses in Europe. The villages of Downshill and Delgany are steeped with history;  Coolagad stands sentry over the seaside town of Greystones, location of Kindlestown Castle, Killincarrig Castle and once site of Rathdown Castle.

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Kingdom of Cuala

c. Yasmin Fortune 2021

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