Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

On a high (between 700’ and 800’ contours), level pasture terrace on the NE slopes of Knockaunsmountain (OD 983’) with panoramic views over Galway bay and the Aran islands, and overlooked by higher ground to the S and W, and within an extensive field system (CL004-098----). Indicated on both the first edition (1842) and the later Cassini edition (1915) of OS 6-inch maps. Recorded by Westropp (1901, 11) as ‘near the road’ and ‘nearly gone’ and subsequently described and sketched by him (1915, 57, 59) as one in ‘a curious group of ring walls’, named ‘Caherbeg’ and ‘built of large shapely blocks with many upright joints … The gateway faces … [south], but only its west pier remains. Several walls cross the garth’. The site is named ‘Cathair Bheag on Robinson’s (1977) map.
A roughly circular area (int. diams. 20.4m E-W; 17m N-S; ext. diams. 26m N-S; 25m E-W) is defined by a drystone wall (T 0.5-1.8m; ext. H 1.1-2.1m; int. H 1-1.8m) with both inner and outer wall facing stones visible. A later field wall has been built on the original line of the cashel in places and the original entrance gap at S survives. There is a niche in the inner face of the cashel wall in the N sector and a smaller niche in the outer face of the cashel wall at ESE. The interior slopes down to the E and contains a D-shaped enclosure of uncertain date in the NE sector. An enclosure (CL004-037001-) is located c. 71m to the NNE.

See attached: CL004-036----_1 Westropp’s 1915 sketch of the cashel walling.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 26 October 2022