Dorsey or Dorsy () is a small village and

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

between

Belleeks Belleeks () is a small village and townland in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2011 Census it had a reported population of 375. It lies within the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area and the historic barony of Upper Fe ...

and

Cullyhanna Cullyhanna () is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne Distri ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It has an estimated population of 130-160 people and includes about 30-35 houses.

'Dorsey ramparts'

Dorsey Walls meet Bonds rd Na Doirse, the gateways, is an extensive earthwork which runs through the South Armagh area. The Dorsey Ramparts, or 'The Walls' as they are known locally, are said to have been a fortified frontier post to the kingdom whose capital was Emain Macha (Navan Fort), blocking an important historic route into South Armagh. It was built at a time when the power of the Ulster kingdom may have been at its strongest, around 100 BCE. Some time later Ulster was threatened from the south and it is speculated that Dorsey may have been incorporated into a more extensive defensive system known in Monaghan and further west as the Black Pig's Dyke. Dorsey is one of the few monuments in the north of Ireland which have been confirmed as

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

in date. It is a group of linear earthworks with a perimeter of 4 km, enclosing an area of .. There have been a number of archaeological investigations of the Dorsey. There were a number of surveys and descriptions carried out from the 17th to 19th centuries. Much of this work was synthesised by Tempest (Tempest, 1930). Excavations at the South Gate, close to the current excavation, were carried out by Oliver Davies in 1938 (Davies, 1938). Davies also excavated at the north break in the Dorsey, and to the west of the ramparts around the watching stone in 1939 (Dorsey, 1940a). Excavations carried out by Chris Lynn in the 1977 provided dating evidence for the Dorsey. Felling dates of timbers from the southern part of the monument were dated by dendrochronology to 89±9 to 96±9 BC. (Lynn, 1992). Timbers from the northern section were dated by dendrochronology to felling dates of 135 ±9 to 150 ±9 BC (Baillie and Brown, 1989). It has been suggested that the Dorsey may not therefore be an enclosure but two lines of defence, the northern earlier and the southern one later (Lynn, 1989). (Above exert taken from Hurl ''et al'', 2002, 1).

Facilities

It currently has: * a community centre * a chapel * a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

pitch (Rory McGee Park) * football teams (U8, U10, U14, U16, Minor and Senior levels)

Chapel

The chapel in Dorsey is over 50 years old and was built by local people. The site on which the chapel was built was donated by a local, Felix Mackin. Dorsey is part of the parish of Lower Creggan which incorporates Dorsey, Newtownhamilton and Cullyhanna.

Sport

Dorsey Emmet's GFC is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club based in Dorsey and fielding

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams at Under-8, U10, U14, U16 and senior level.

Education

Dorsey does not have its own schools so its 4-11-year-olds usually go to St. Olivers Primary School in Carrickrovaddy or St. Brigid's Primary School in

Belleeks, County Armagh Belleeks () is a small village and townland in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2011 Census it had a reported population of 375. It lies within the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area and the historic barony of Upper Few ...

. Its 12-16-year-olds usually attend St. Joseph's High School in

Crossmaglen Crossmaglen (, ) is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Irel ...

or St. Paul's High School in Bessbrook.

References

* * {{authority control Villages in County Armagh Townlands of County Armagh Archaeological sites in County Armagh Ancient dikes Prehistoric sites in Ireland Linear earthworks