Archaeologists have uncovered compelling new evidence that Haughey’s Fort in County Armagh was one of the most significant centres of power, production and ritual in Late Bronze Age Europe, challenging traditional views of prehistoric Ireland and revealing a monumental landscape of exceptional scale.
Published in the journal Antiquity, the study presents the results of an extensive research programme combining lidar, geophysical survey, targeted excavation and archival analysis to reassess the landscape surrounding Haughey’s Fort, a hillfort first established around 1200 BC, centuries before nearby Navan Fort emerged as the ceremonial capital of ancient Ulster.
The investigation has transformed archaeologists’ understanding of the site, revealing evidence for more than 200 possible timber structures within the hillfort, including several unusually large circular buildings that may have served ceremonial or institutional functions. Alongside extensive evidence for bronze and gold working, imported continental artefacts point to long-distance trade networks stretching across Europe.
One of the study’s most significant discoveries concerns the Creeveroe Earthworks, previously interpreted as a ceremonial boundary. New lidar and geophysical surveys demonstrate that the earthworks instead form a vast 109-hectare enclosure surrounding Haughey’s Fort, making it one of the largest known prehistoric hillforts in Britain and Ireland.
The enclosure incorporates burial monuments and high-status metalwork deposits around its perimeter, suggesting that it functioned as more than a defensive boundary. Researchers believe it also expressed territorial authority, ancestral identity and political power within the wider Bronze Age landscape.
The concentration of domestic structures, monumental architecture and specialist craft production has also led the research team to identify Haughey’s Fort as one of the strongest examples of Bronze Age “proto-urbanism” in north-west Europe. Unlike the isolated farmsteads that characterised much of prehistoric Ireland, the settlement appears to have supported a sizeable, organised population engaged in manufacturing, trade and ceremonial activity.
Researchers also uncovered new evidence linking Haughey’s Fort with the nearby King’s Stables, an artificial ritual pool located at the foot of the hillfort. Geophysical survey revealed an elaborate 87-metre-long, palisade-lined avenue leading from the fort towards the pool, suggesting the two monuments formed part of a unified ceremonial complex.
Previous excavations at the King’s Stables recovered moulds used to cast leaf-shaped bronze swords, unusual animal remains and fragments of a human skull, indicating that the site was used for ritual deposition rather than everyday activity. The new findings strengthen the interpretation that Haughey’s Fort and the King’s Stables functioned together as interconnected centres of production and ceremony.
The authors conclude that Haughey’s Fort, the King’s Stables and the Creeveroe Earthworks formed an unparalleled monumental complex that served as a regional hub of political, economic and ritual activity during the Late Bronze Age. Together, the discoveries significantly reshape understanding of prehistoric Ireland, demonstrating that complex, highly organised communities with extensive international connections flourished centuries before the rise of the Iron Age kingdoms.
Sources : Antiquity – O’Driscoll J, Gleeson P. Haughey’s Fort: a major complex of power, production and ritual in Late Bronze Age Europe. Antiquity. Published online 2026:1-18. doi:10.15184/aqy.2026.10382
