Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - cashel
Poulbaun (burren By.), County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Poulbaun (burren By.)
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Hachured
- Latest-edition OS map
- Indicated (1916)
- Coordinates
- 53.06420, -9.11688
- SMR number
- CL005-160021-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid 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).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In elevated rocky pasture at the SW end of a prominent limestone ridge aligned NE-SW, with clear views in all directions, within an extensive multiperiod field system (CL005-160001-). Hachured on the 1840 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. Westropp (1899, 373) remarked on the fine vista from the cashel and described the ‘defaced gateway’ and ‘curved souterrain’ within the garth. A subcircular cashel (24.5m N-S; 23.5m E-W) defined by a partially collapsed drystone wall (Wth 1.8m) and a spread of collapsed rubble at the SE and SW. The outer wall-facing survives intermittently (max. H 1.7m) and is slightly battered. The inner facing survives only in the S sector. A break in the wall at the NW (Wth 1.2m) may have been the original entrance. Westropp described this ‘gateway’ as ‘4 feet 10 inches wide with parallel sides of coursed masonry’ (ibid., 373). The interior slopes down to the S and SE and contains a partially collapsed souterrain (CL005-160035-). A later drystone pen has been built into the wall at the SW. Field boundaries extending from the SE, S and SW form two fields delimited from W to E by a curving boundary concentric to the cashel.
Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell
Date of upload: 30 September 2025
References
Westropp, T.J. 1899 Prehistoric remains in the Burren, County Clare. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 29, 367-84.
Nearby in the register
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Field systemunder 1 mi
- Megalithic tomb - wedge tombunder 1 mi
- Mass-rockunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.