Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

Prominently sited on a high (774’ – 775.3’ BM), level pasture terrace on the NW slopes of Knockaunsmountain (OD 983’) with panoramic views W-NNE, and within an extensive field system (CL004-098----). Indicated and named ‘Cahernagree’ on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map - which shows a road crossing the monument between W and NE - and similarly recorded and named on the later Cassini edition (1915) of the map. Westropp (1900-1902, 422) also noted that it was ‘Defaced by a road cut through it’. The monument was referred to by O’ Donovan (1839) as, ‘Cahernagree, the Fort of the Horses’ (Comber 1997, 69), and by Westropp (1901, 11) as, ‘the ring of Cahernagree’ and ‘the fort of the herds’. A nearby swallow-hole part-shares the fort’s name: ‘Poulnagree’ is recorded c. 10m to the S of ‘Cahernagree’ on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map but is shown c. 115 to the SW on the 1915 Cassini edition of the map. Today, a modern farm track runs S off the main road, along the E limits of the monument and passes a modern livestock waterhole and spring c. 30m to the SE of ‘Cahernagree’.
The OS mapping records a raised, oval area (est. diams. c. 34m N-S; c. 30m E-W) with a later field wall running SSE from the SE sector. Upon inspection in 1998, only a low scarp (H 0.5m) was visible, marking the W perimeter of the monument and the surrounding ground was noticeably uneven due to reclamation works.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 26 October 2022

References

Westropp, T.J 1901 Prehistoric remains in north-western Clare, part I. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 31, 1-17.

Westropp, T.J. 1900-02 The cahers of county Clare: their names, features, and bibliography. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Series 3, vol. 6, 415-49.

Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare: John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Clasp Press. Ennis.