Armagh and Down: Dane’s Cast
Segments of linear earthworks in counties Down and Armagh are known as the Dane’s Cast. The best-preserved section is to be found running alongside the Newry River at Scarva, Co. Down.
Armagh: the Dorsey
Dendrochronological dates obtained by Chris Lynn indicate that the Dorsey, once thought to have been a large enclosure, is in fact two successive linear earthworks that were built around 50 years apart in the last two centuries BC. The massive ramparts, which rise to 8m high in sections, were augmented by timber piling and enclosed an area of bog and marsh, which N.B. Aitchison suggested may have been used for the ritual deposition of metalwork.
Gallery
An artist’s reconstruction of the Dorsey, county Down (courtesy Philip Armstrong, Paint the Past).
Map showing location of Dane’s Cast