Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

I don't really keep a list of archaeological sites that I'd love to see fully excavated, but if I did Tullyhogue Fort, Co. Tyrone would be up there! Today, it's a series of grassy banks with a wonderfully waterlogged ditch. It would be a pain to excavate safely, but the potential for well preserved organic artefacts and environmental evidence could be huge! The site probably started off in the prehistoric period (it's a hill in Tyrone - I defy you to not find evidence of prehistoric activity!), and by the Early Medieval a ringfort/rath had been built there. It was, evidently, an important place in the landscape as each new O'Neill was obliged to schlep over to Tullyhogue from Dungannon to be formally inaugurated by an O'Cahan wielding a shoe. The origins and significance of the 'shoe ritual' are obscure, but appear to derive from the 1979 epic movie Monty Python's Life of Brian. OK ... I'm joking, but have you read the nonsense some prehistorians...

Dr Chris Lynn & Giant Pillar of Light at Errigal Keerogue, 2000 Historical sources suggest that a  St  Chiarog founded a chri stian  monastery here in the 6th century, but  there has probably a been a religious site of some description on this esporgent hill in rural Tyrone for as long as there have been humans to want religion. Today it is a quiet spot, quite a bit off the main road, dominated by the ruin of a late medieval church perched on top of the hill. Inside the church is a replica of a medieval tombstone, possibly representing a knight. However, the real treasure of this fantastic little site stands just to the west of the church building -  an unfinished High Cross of Early Medieval date.  The megalithicireland.com site describes is as having 'Short stubby arms ... slightly protruding from an unpierced ring'. In the right light you can see a set of incised lines marking a ring and concave arms on on the eastern face. On the opposite (west...

  At the end of last year the Chapple family headed off to explore the archaeology of Tyrone & Fermanagh and we stopped along the way at Clogher Hill Fort. Clogher is a complex site that, at least, goes back to the Late Bronze Age. The site is located on one of the highest points in the area and sits at an ancient crossroads that would have put it at the centre of traffic, trade, and (ultimately) power. The site itself appear to have started off as a large enclosure defied by a bank and ditch (Hill Fort), with a later ringfort built on top in the Early Medieval period. Away from the main site, on the southern tip of this north-south running hill, is a beautiful ring barrow of Bronze Age or Iron Age date. Between the two is a roughly triangular mound, thought to be used for royal inaugurations. Excavations by the wonderful Richard Warner in the 1970s produced evidence of contacts with the wider world and demonstrate a trade in high value goods, including wine amphorae from the...

It seems so long ago now, but during one of the inter-lockdown periods of last year the Chapple family headed for the distant shores of mid-Ulster to spend a few days in the open air and experiencing some of the great archaeology of the Tyrone/Fermanagh area. Along the way the Chapples Minor were fed, watered, and introduced to some of the most beautiful and important archaeological sites anywhere you choose to look ... well, in my opinion at any rate. First on our virtual tour is the Beaghmore complex of Early Bronze Age cairns, stone circles and stone alignments. From excavations carried out from the 1940s onward it has been established that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and that some of the later Bronze Age monuments directly overlie the remains of Neolithic field walls etc. Over-farming throughout these early periods led to a deterioration of soil quality and eventually resulted in the grown of substantial bog cover, which enveloped and protected the site. ...

The British Museum holds 57 items identified as coming from Co Tyrone, along with one each identified as from either Tyrone/Fermanagh and Tyrone/Derry~Londonderry. The majority of these (17) are assigned to the Neolithic/Bronze Age. The most common object type represented are axes (16). The two main material types represented in this assemblage are Metal (34) and Stone (22). < Table of Contents Neolithic/Bronze Age: Stone items Tyrone macehead 20050501.290 Stone macehead, partly perforated on both faces, round and disk-like shape, smooth surface, brown in colour. http://britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1557166&partId=1 Tyrone axe 18431226.157 Polished stone axe, small. http://britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1395642&partId=1 Cookstown, bog (near) axe 18431226.155 Polished stone axe. http://britishmuseum.org/research...