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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - cashel

Poulgorm, County Clare, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - cashel, Poulgorm, County Clare, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Poulgorm
County
Clare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Indicated (1916)
Coordinates
53.05595, -9.13722
SMR number
CL005-147----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (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

In elevated rocky pasture c. 20m NW of the edge of a steep ravine aligned NE-SW which separates the site from higher ground to the S. Within a multiperiod field system (CL005-160001-). Hachured on the 1839 6-inch OS map. Described as a ‘cliff fort’ by Westropp (1899, 378). A circular cashel (18m N-S; 18.5m E-W) defined by a partially collapsed stone wall (Wth 2-3.2m). The outer wall-facing varies in height (H 0.4-1.65m), being highest at the SSE. No inner wall-facing survives. A possible entrance (Wth 2m) is located at NNW with a smaller cattle gap at E. The interior of the cashel slopes gently to the E and is full of grassy hummocks. A low wall foundation extends NE from the SW wall of the cashel and may be the remnants of an internal structure or division. A subcircular enclosure (CL005-147002-) extends E from the cashel encompassing a possible clochan (CL005-147003-). A radial field system extends from W to E around the cashel and enclosure.  
 

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell

 

Date of upload: 21 October 2025

References

Westropp, T.J. 1899 Prehistoric remains in the Burren, County Clare. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 9, 367-384.

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
All Ringfort - cashel in Clare All County Clare records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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