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Ringfort - cashel

Ballyelly, County Clare, Ireland

The record

Townland
Ballyelly
County
Clare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Indicated (1915)
Coordinates
53.09932, -9.27024
SMR number
CL004-016019-

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

On the high W-facing slopes of a hill with commanding views from SW to N and within an extensive multiperiod field system (CL004-016001-). Indicated on the 1840 and 1915 OS 6-inch maps. Listed as ‘enclosure’ in the RMP (1996).

A well-preserved roughly circular cashel (ext. dims. 27.2m N-S; 24.7m E-W; int. dims. 20.5m N-S; 18.2m E-W) defined by a drystone wall (T 2.6m at W; T 3.9m at E; ext. H 0.3-1.75m) which is collapsed at SSE. The outer wall-face survives (H 2m in SSW) and is frequently concealed by collapsed masonry. The inner wall-face is best preserved from S to SW (H 1.2m) and less well preserved from SW to WNW. There is less internal collapse along the perimeter of the cashel from NE to ESE than elsewhere. There is a lintled gap in the cashel wall in the WNW (ext. Wth 0.6m; int. Wth 0.4m; H 0.4m; T 1.85m) and a continuation of this feature into the interior of the cashel is indicated by a shallow trench which may be part of a souterrain. In the E quadrant of the interior, the low wall foundations of a subrectangular house of indeterminate date (CL004-016033-) abut the perimeter of the cashel wall. A low, later wall sits on top of this feature. An irregular spread of stones in the SSW may indicate a collapsed second structure. Outside of the cashel and along the perimeter in the SSE, a structure which is now used as an animal pen may have been a contemporary house site. Stone walls abut the cashel wall at W, N and E.

The following image has been uploaded:
CL004-016019-_01.jpg View of cashel from ESE.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 9 August 2022

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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