The largest and most impressive of the Aran Islands' stone forts, this massive oval structure sits on Inis Meáin's highest point. The walls are over three metres thick and five metres high, built entirely of dry stone without mortar. Its age is uncertain — estimates range from 700 BC to 500 AD — but the engineering is remarkable regardless. The single entrance faces north, and the fort would have been nearly impossible to storm from the steep southern approach. Climb to the top of the walls for views across all three islands and the Connemara mountains.
Dún Chonchúir
Massive ancient stone fort on the island's highest point
A story
The fort is named after Conchobar, a semi-legendary high king of Connacht. No one knows for certain what purpose it served — purely defensive, ceremonial, or both. What is clear is that constructing these walls, dry-stone, using limestone slabs quarried from the island's surface, required coordinating the labour of a significant community on an island that can only have supported a few hundred people at most.