placenamesDunseverick
Dún Sobhairce
Dunseverick’s basalt headland preserves a fortified landscape, while excavation nearby has revealed evidence of early medieval occupation.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Dún Sobhairce · Irish · main form · validated name
- Dunseverick · English · main form
Place & story
Earthworks above the sea
The castle site occupies a steep-sided basalt promontory. Banks and ditches guard its approach, while low earthworks and rectangular building traces survive on the summit. A ruined masonry tower stands near the southern edge. Part of it fell when the rockface collapsed in 1978; the surviving structure was subsequently repaired and stabilised. [2]
Excavating the cave
Archaeologists investigated a cave west of the castle in 2007 and 2008. Ruth Logue’s account of the second season records early medieval pottery in occupation deposits and further exposure of the lower courses of a standing wall. The work was undertaken by Queen’s University Belfast with the University of Ulster’s Centre for Maritime Archaeology. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Cary
- Civil parish
- Billy
- Within
- Feigh alias Dunseverick
- Coordinates
- 55.23328, -6.45944 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 61823 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dunseverick. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dunseverick Castle: archaeology and surviving remains · National Trust
- 2008:030, Feigh alias Dunseverick: Dunseverick Cave · Ruth Logue, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.