Linear Earthworks in Ireland

Linear Earthworks are found in Ireland that largely date to the Iron Age.

They tend by visible as earth banks with an accompanying ditch or as a pair of ditches running for great distances across the countryside.

Such linear earthworks are generally only well preserved for short stretches and the best known examples are:
Doon of Drumsna, Co. Roscommon, the Dorsey, Co. Armagh, Black Pig’s Dyke in Counties. Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim; Worm’s Ditch – another name for Black Pig’s Dyke; the Dane’s Cast in Co. Armagh and Co. Down and An Claidh Dubh which survives in various sections over a very large area of Cork and into Limerick. There is also an earthwork called An Claidh Ruadh in Co Kerry and Co Limerick.

Their purpose and function are unclear. They may have indicated some sort of territorial boundaries, acted as
obstacles to cattle rustling or some other use that is not clear today. Broadly speaking they all date to the Iron Age.

Excavations at the Doon of Drumsna in Co. Roscommon showed that it dates to 400-100 BC.

The complex around the Dorsey, Co. Armagh and the Black Pigs Dyke and Worms Ditch all appear to be part of the same earthwork. Excavations have repeatedly produced Iron Age dates mainly falling between 150 and 90 BC.

The Dane’s Cast in Co. Down has never been investigated and it is unclear whether it is Iron Age or possibly medieval as it is somewhat similar to the late medieval Pale Ditch around the English enclave at Dublin.

Investigations of An Claidh Dubh also suggest that it dates to before 100 AD.

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