In Retrospect: A centennial look at Thomas J. Westropp's field records of the promontory forts of north County Mayo

Abstract

In Retrospect A centennial look at Thomas J. Westropp's field records of the promontory forts of north County Mayo Claire Cotter* Western Stone Forts Project, The Discovery Programme In August 1910 Thomas J.Westropp visited a number of promontoryfortsin north-westCounty Mayo, including two veryimpressiveexamples: Doonamo on the Mullet Peninsula and a forthe called 'Dun Kilmore' on the island of Achillbeg. With customary diligence he described and commented on his findingsin a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. The paper, Notes on the larger cliffforts of the west coast of County Mayo (Westropp 1911, 11-133) is the subject of this retrospective.These particular fortswere visited to provide context for the multi-disciplinaryClare Island Survey of 1909-11, to which Westropp contributed the archaeological and historical section (Westropp 1911, section 1, Part 2, 1-2.78). The 'cliffforts' paper also formed part of a long series of articles by Westropp on Irish promontoryforts,published in the journals of the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland between 1906 and 1922. 1 The protracted fieldworkinvolved- the greater part of it carried out in the years 1906 to 1915- saw Westropp visitmost of the (then) known promontoryforts along the western and southern coast-line.2 Along the way he discovered or brought to official attention a great number of other unrecorded forts. Subsequent work on the Leinster fortswas curtailed by his early death at the * Author'se-mail:clairecott@eircom.net doi: 10.3318/PRIAC.201 1.112.07 1 A fullbibliography ofWestropp's publishedworkcan be foundinAshe FitzGerald 2000,Appendix2. 2 Sligo and theUlstercountieslayoutsideWestropp's geographic ambit,presumably becauseofthelongdistancefrom thebases heusedthroughout hislife, i.e.hishomein Dublinand thehomesofhisclose family and friends inClareand Limerick. Mayo too was rarely visited, hisworkof'twosummers' there in 1909and 1910probably providing all thedata forsubsequentarticlesand commentary. Proceedingsof theRoyal Irish Academy Vol. 112C, 361-372 © 2011 Royal Irish Academy Claire Cotter age of 61 in 1922; his last paper, published shortlyafter his death (Westropp 1922, 52-76), was clearly intended to be the first of a series on the promontory forts of the Leinster region. At the outset he listed over 70 'probable' sites (Westropp 1902, 704-5) - by 1914 he was able to report that 'from the Moy to the Kenmare river' the number of promontoryforts'now stands at 105' (Westropp 1914, 337). His final published article (Westropp Fig. 1 - Coastal promontoryforts.Based on informationfrom the Record of Monuments and Places and Northern IrelandSitesand MonumentsRecord. 362 A centenniallook at Thomas J. Westropp's field records Extract 1922, 52) gave countrywide figures'some 195 for the three 'more southern' provinces alone, perhaps over 260 for the whole island'. The numberof Irish coastal promontory fortscurrentlystands at around 345 (Figure 1), over a quarter of the sites being located along the Mayo coast-line. Like his numerous papers on ring forts,Westropp's promontoryfort articlesfolloweda set template typicallyan overviewof thetopographical and historicalcontextfollowedbya summaryand assessmentoftheworkofprevious commentatorsand a descriptivecatalogue of individual sites.Toponymy,myths, legends, folkloric beliefs and practises, reports of associated finds,imminent threatsto themonument(natural or otherwise)would all feature.Similaritiesto other Irish or 'foreign'fortswere highlighted,increasinglyso as the Irish data accumulated and Westropp's circle of overseas correspondents widened. The chronology suggested forthe Mayo forts - from'considerable antiquity'on the one hand to the sixteenth/seventeenth centuryad on theother(Westropp 1911, 14-15) is characteristicallybriefand non-committal.Although not disinterested in mattersof chronology,in his writingsat any rate,Westroppwas unwillingto engage in protracted 'theoretical' discussions on the subject, or indeed in any non-factual subject (Westropp 1911b, 343). Time and again he emphasised the importance of collecting field data, seeing it as not only necessary for the advancement of knowledge, but as a matterof urgencyand often'a race with Destruction' (Westropp 1912b, 293). Plans, sketchesand photographs make up an importantpart of his recordsand (taking his illustrationsof Doonamo as a case in point) have much to contributeto modern archaeology. Fig. 2- Westropp's drawing oftheDoonamo defences, 1910(Westropp 1911,fig.2 and 1912,fig.5). 363 Claire Cotter The Doonamo illustrations: setting the record straight The defences at Doonamo comprise a substantial inner rampart (probably stone-revettedon both faces originally but now in...