The Rock stands 150 feet (46m) tall in the heart of what is otherwise a flat plain, and was ideal as a defensive position with its view right up to the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Excavations in the 1990s demonstrated that the Rock was first settled in the 9th century when a fort or dun was constructed on the site. In 845 the Vikings attacked the site and the abbot of Terryglass was killed there. There is no clear evidence of 10th-11th century occupation.
Dunamase, Co. Laois
