CHEVAUX DE FRISE OF THE IRISH AND BRITISH ISLES

Chevaux de frise is a term describing a series of deliberately introduced stones or wooden stakes positioned outside an ancient fortification. Only a handful of such sites in Ireland and Britain have been recorded, with a much larger concentration found in the Iberian Peninsula. Traditionally, chevaux de frise is assumed to have originated in Central or Eastern Europe around 800–600 BC before spreading westwards, appearing as a defensive reaction to the use of horses in warfare. However, recent work on Iberian examples have begun to identify Bronze Age precursors as well as challenging the traditional defensive interpretation. This paper, for the first time since Harbison’s seminal work on the subject in 1971, brings together the most recent evidence from Ireland and Britain, identifying a similar Bronze Age horizon and highlighting the potential defensive, and non-defensive, functions of chevaux de frise.