Baltinglass hillfort complex

Baltinglass hillfort complex

Alternative name	Baltinglass-Kilranelagh hillfort complex
Location	near Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland
Type	Hillfort complex
Area	Slaney Valley

Baltinglass hillfort complex, sometimes known as the Baltinglass-Kilranelagh hillfort complex, is a cluster of 13 prehistoric hillforts near Baltinglass, County Wicklow.

Tom Condit (Office of Public Works) dubbed Baltinglass as the "hillfort capital of Ireland" in 1992. ^[1] As of 2024, 13 large hilltop enclosures have been identified across seven hills, within a 10 km radius of Baltinglass, ^[2] making Baltinglass the only area with more than two hillforts. ^[3]

Hillforts

• On Baltinglass Hill:
  • Rathcoran, neolithic. ^{[4] [5]}
  • Rathnagree, Bronze Age. ^{[4] [5]}
  • Sruhan, Bronze Age. ^[5]
• On Spinans Hill:
  • Spinans Hill 1, neolithic. ^[5]
  • Spinans Hill 2, undated, ^[5] one of the largest hillforts in Ireland, discovered by Tom Condit in the 1990s using Irish Army Air Corps photographs. ^[6]
  • Brusselstown Ring, undated, ^[5] recorded on OS map in 1838. ^[4] 600 suspected hilltop dwellings have been identified in Brusselstown making it the largest nucleated prehistoric settlement by far ever discovered in Ireland and Britain. ^[7]
• On Kilranelagh Hill:
  • Kilranelagh, undated, ^[5] located in Colvinstown Upper.
  • Ballinroan Upper, undated. ^[5]
  • Boleycarrigeen, undated. ^[5]
• Hughstown, on Carrigeen Hill, neolithic, ^[5] recorded by a Cambridge University aerial survey in the 1960s. ^[8]
• Tinoran Hill, Bronze Age, ^[5] discovered by Tom Condit in the 1990s using Irish Army Air Corps photographs. ^[6]
• Corballis Hill, undated. ^[5]
• Fauna Hill, undated, ^[5] recorded by Liam Price, rediscovered by LiDAR survey. ^[8]

Notes

1. Condit, Tom (1992). "Ireland's Hillfort Capital: Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow". Archaeology Ireland. 6 (3): 16–20. ISSN   0790-892X.
2. O'Driscoll et al. (2024), p. 20.
3. O’Driscoll, James (2017). "Ireland's 'Hillfort Capital' Revisited". Archaeology Ireland. 31 (4): 30–34. ISSN   0790-892X.
4. O'Driscoll et al. (2024), p. 31.
5. O'Driscoll et al. (2024), p. 35.
6. O'Driscoll et al. (2024), p. 34.
7. Multiple sources:
   • Brandherm, Dirk; Edwards, Cherie; Boutoille, Linda; O'Driscoll, James (18 November 2025). "Brusselstown Ring: a nucleated settlement agglomeration in prehistoric Ireland". Antiquity . Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2025.10247 . Retrieved 8 January 2026.
   • "Wicklow hillfort designated Ireland's earliest proto-town". RTÉ News. 8 January 2026.
   • Fleck, Holly (1 January 2026). "New discovery may challenge theory Vikings built first Irish towns". BBC News.
8. O'Driscoll et al. (2024), p. 33.

References

• O'Driscoll, James; Hawkes, Alan; O'Brien, William (2024). Baltinglass and the Prehistoric Hillforts of Ireland. Dublin: Wordwell. ISBN   978-1916742086.