Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

Prominently sited (OD 824’) on the W summit of Ailwee Hill within an extensive, multiperiod field system (CL005-104001-). Described by Westropp (1901, 282) as the, ‘[caher] at the summit of the boldly-terraced bluff is shown on the map as partly levelled …’, and hachured on the Cassini edition (1916) of the OS 6-inch map.
An oval-shaped cashel (int. diams 20m ENE-WSW; 15m NNW-SSE) is defined by a bank of stone and earth (Wth 1.1-4m; H 0.5-1.15m) with outer facing stones surviving along NE and E, with the best preserved section of original enclosing wall from E-ESE (wall T 1.1m). A vertical masonry joint line is visible in the thickness of the wall at E. Two possible hut sites (CL005-099001- and CL005-099002-) abut the inner face of the enclosing wall at NE, a livestock pen abuts the outer face at NW and a rectangular pen crosses the wall at ESE. A later field boundary wall runs (NNW-ESE) across the W-sector of the monument.
A second enclosure (CL005-263----) lies c. 40m to the NE and a third (CL005-229----) c. 90m to the SE.

See attached image: CL005-099----_01.jpg Aerial view of monument from N in 2007. A second, larger enclosure (CL005-249----) is also visible in background left. (Photo. Markus Casey)

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Ros Ó Maoldúin

Date of upload: 17 January 2023

References

Westropp, T.J 1901 Prehistoric remains in north-western Clare part II. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 31, 273-91.