Earthwork but what exactly?

It's described as an earthwork and possible military encampment on the Sites and Monuments Record of Northern Ireland. It's not on the Atlas of Hillforts of the UK and Ireland. Most disappointingly it's not mentioned on the Megalithic Portal. But this tree-topped mound outside Portglenone has caught my eye on my infrequent visits to visit family in the area.


It's officially called Knockanhead but locals call it Clements Hill. It was marked as 102ft on the OSNI Historical First Edition map (1829-35) but only 100ft on subsequent editions (and is listed at 27mo n PRONI's map viewer).

The SMR recounts the OS Memoir description of a "few traces of entrenchments on the south western side... a site chosen as fit by some general." 

At least one other person thought it was an ancient battleground, probably drawing on the above. In a September 1927 issue of the Weekly Telegraph, someone writing about antiquities found in the Bann area writes:

"At the western side of Gortfad, touching the Bann between Garvaghy and Bracknamuckley, there is an eminence which resembles a huge sand dune. About half a mile away or less a similar eminence stands in County Derry. These two heights, rising to a hundred and fifty feet or more above the level plain, were at one time scenes of martial activity. Indisputable evidence of this fact survives in arrow heads which have been picked up about the base of both acclivities and over the intervening space...

"If at any time the hillock in Gortfad territory had a name it has long been forgotten; but the eminence corresponding to it in County Derry territory was once known as Knock-an-head and now as Clement's Hill. A sense of loneliness has always attached to the Antrim height, deepened at nightfall by the presence of overshadowing trees. There has been a suggestion, too, of the presence of fairies about the place because of the existence of peculiar thorns and strange effects in the moonlight. In the case of Knock-an-head hill similar remarks also apply."

This is one of the few references to the hill that I've found and it does point to the long history of population associated with the river which flows nearby. Whether battles raged between these mounds is another story.

I would certainly love to know more about it but web searches aren't uncovering any evidence of modern archaeological work at the site. There is no available Lidar either. If you know more, get in touch!

Image above obviously from Google Maps. Here is my terrible snap when passing in a car (back seat and tinted windows!).



Location: Portglenone, Ballymena BT44, UK

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