Archaeology on Slievemore
Slievemore Mountain
Neolithic activity going back over 5000 years is demonstrated by the remains of a series megalithic tombs situated on the southern and eastern slopes of Slievemore in the townlands of Dugort West, and Keel East. Division of the landscape and possible agricultural activity during the Neolithic or Bronze Age can be traced on the slopes of the mountain in the form of a collection of curvilinear field walls, some of which extend nearly as high as the western ridge of the mountain. Other field walls interspersed with modern examples in the Deserted Village may date to the medieval period whilst ‘the green road’ in the valley bottom probably represents an old ‘drove way’. Towards the western end of the mountain, a series of platforms, some containing substantial stone roundhouses have been dated to the Bronze Age, A radiocarbon sample from a floor in Round House 1 produced a date in the Middle Bronze Age but a second underlying floor containing a hearth, post holes and stake holes is probably much earlier.
Slievemore graveyard contains the remains of a building, supposedly a church, a number of equal-armed crosses and a holy well, dedicated to St. Colmán that probably date to the 7th to 9th centuries A.D.
Downslope from the prehistoric remains is the Deserted Village of Slievemore, a settlement of some 84 houses and field walls remaining out of an original 135 structures. The houses are divided into three distinct groups, spread over an area of c.2km² along the 200 ft (70 metre) contour on the southern slopes of Slievemore and represent the latest phase of settlement on the mountain.
The houses are of dry stone construction, rectangular plan and gabled roof, originally covered by rye thatch. The haunting and evocative remains of the houses are a monument to a traumatic period in the island’s history that is being slowly uncovered by archaeological investigation and documentary research. Folklore associated with the village revolves around the ‘booley (transhumance) phase’ of seasonal livestock herding that took place subsequent to abandonment of the village in the mid nineteenth century.