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Murphy's Fort, Mullaghmore

Hillfort

Miscellaneous

Murphy’s Fort

Very curious about this site. At the moment i’m doing a bit a read-up before my Easter trip to Ireland and I came across the name & I thought I made a mistake.

Mullaghmore Townland is on the North-Western slopes below the high Mourne Mountain & very sparsely populated. I have checked the current O.S Map throughly & it’s no longer referred to, which does’nt sound too good, but does’nt mean that it’s gone from the landscape. This definately deserves to be checked out.

The site was excavated by a Dr. J.M. Mogey between 1948 & 1949, and he referred to it as a low mound surrounded by a fosse and outer bank – in total 27.5m in diameter, & a similar structure 7.6m in diameter adjoining on the North-East side.

Additional curious note: A site called the Mullaghmore Cairn in the Dublin Penny Journal, IV (1935-6), which may be the same site, was opened just before 1835. The findings included an ornamented urn (aparently in the possession of the Marquis of Downshire), which contained several calcined bones and a Lachrymatory. This Lachrymatory is a small vessel which contained the ashes of a heart – obviously someone of great importance to the region. But sadly there’s no more information because the vessel turned to dust after being exposed to fresh air.

The question begs...What was the huge significance of this site in South-Down?
Posted by Schlager Man
12th February 2002ce

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