Dorsey Ramble

by Colette Quinn
1 year ago
Near Cullyhanna, GB

21 views

A moderately hilly circular walking route on roads approximately 5.4 miles long. Apart from the spectacular scenery this ramble takes you past Cregganduff School and the very historical Dorsey Ramparts.

Cregganduff School

This local Primary School was opened in 1889 and was closed in 1972. Cardinal O’Fiaich was a pupil of this school and his parents were both teachers at the school.

Dorsey Rampart

Na Doirse, the gateways, is an extensive earthwork which runs through the South Armagh area and is part of a series of Iron Age earthworks, which run across South Ulster. It extends for 4pm and comprises banks, ditches and a wooden palisade fence. Oak from this fence has been dated to between 140-90 BC.

The Dorsey Ramparts, or 'The Walls' as they are known locally, are said to have been a fortified frontier post to the kingdom whose capital was Emain Mhaca (Navan Fort), blocking an important historic route into South Armagh. It was built at a time when the power of the Ulster kingdom may have been at its strongest, around 100 BC.

Sometime later Ulster was threatened from the south and it is speculated that Dorsey may have been incorporated into a more extensive defensive system known in Monaghan and further west as the Black Pig’s Dyke.

Dorsey is one of the few monuments in the north of Ireland which has been confirmed as Iron Age in date.