Drumena

Cashel / Stone fort

This cashel is located about two kilometres south-west of Castlewellan, overlooking Lough Reavy. The walls of the cashel were partially rebuilt during the nineteen twenties and have the foundations of a house in the interior. Defensively the fort is not in a good location as it is over looked from the hill where I took the image below

Measuring about 40 metres by 32 metres the cashel has walls that are over 3 metres thick, this is shown in the image bottom right, and stand at a height of around 2.75 metres. There is a small entrance to the cashel from the main road, which was probably not the original but may have been added later, another entrance at the Eastern side which has a farm gate may have been the original.

Souterrain

One of the main features of this site is a T-shaped souterrain lying inside the fort. The souterrain also has two entrances, the original, pictured below leads to a rectangular chamber with an air hole at the back. At right angles to this chamber is a passage about fifteen metres long with another entrance at the far end, which may have been added later. the drystone walls of the souterrain are about 2 metres high. The picture beow right was taken from the chamber looking toward the original entrance.

Situated: From Newry take the B8 west, drive straight through Hilltown staying on the B8, about 2 kilometres before Castlewellan you will come to a lough on your left hand side, take a right turn at a crossroads sign-posted Drumena Cashel, the site is 250 metres down this road on your right.

Discovery Map 29: J 3104 3404. Last visit Mar 2005.

Longitude: 5° 59' 23" W

Latitude: 54° 14' 18" N

Google Map

Photos: Jim Dempsey

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