Summary: Promontory Forts
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Promontory forts are among the most spectacular of the Iron Age settlements. About two hundred of them are to be found in Ireland, all on cliff tops and mainly on the coast. These forts are large and well defended. The Romans called these oppida or towns.
The only promontory fort in north Antrim to be excavated is Larrybane which stands on a chalk cliff, 45 metres high, near Ballintoy. Its rampart of large basalt boulders is 3.6 metres high and 4.5 metres thick above a ditch 7 metres wide. It was occupied on four different periods, each covering about one hundred years. Houses were situated within its surrounds as were many pieces of pottery, all of which were Iron Age types.
These forts may not have been permanent settlements but used instead as military structures or temporary refuges from warring tribes.
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