Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

On the crest of a S-facing slope in reclaimed pasture, overlooking a valley to the S, within a large multiperiod field system (CL005-160001-). Hachured on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Indicated and labelled ‘Mothair an Mhaoláin’ on Robinson’s map (1977). Described by Westropp (1898, 365) as a ‘defaced caher … about 120 feet [36.5m] across’. Its gateway, which faced S, was ‘6 feet [1.8m] high, 4 feet 4 inches [1.3m] wide ’, had two lintels and seemed to be on the point of collapse. It was constructed of ‘very thin slabs’, which accounted for its dilapidation.
This subrectangular cashel (ext. dims. 40m N–S; 39m E–W) is defined by the collapsed moss-covered remnants of a stone wall (Wth 4–6m; H 0.8–1.6m), which is overlain by a later drystone field wall on the W, N and E sides and by another E-W running wall on the S side. Horizontally laid stones visible intermittently below these walls are the remains of the outer wall-face. Some spill is visible outside the W side of the cashel but that on the N and E sides was removed when the fields were reclaimed. No trace of the gateway noted by Westropp (ibid.) survives. The interior is lower than the ground to the N and S. The remains of a souterrain (CL009-053020-) lie in the N half. Numerous old discontinuous grass-covered field walls (Wth 0.8–1.9m; H 0.5–1m) are also visible. In the SW corner there is a modern drystone corral (int. dims. 4.8m E–W; 2m N–S). Two later rectangular enclosures, defined by grass-covered foundations, abut the W side of the cashel: one (int. dims. 8m N–S; 5m E–W) is roughly at the mid-point of the wall, the other (int. dims. 13m N–S; 13m E–W) lies to the S of this. Other cashels lie c. 245m to the SW (CL009-053004-) and c. 285m to the NW (CL009-053005-).

The following images have been uploaded:
CL009-053010- View from N.jpg
CL009-053010- entrance (Westropp 1898, 365)

Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 31 January 2022

References

Robinson, T. 1977 (revised 1999) The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of north-west Clare. Map scale 1:31680. Roundstone: Folding Landscapes.

Westropp, T.J. 1898 Prehistoric remains in the Burren, County Clare (Carran and Kilcorney). The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 28, 352-66.