Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

On a partly rocky raised hillock surrounded by lowlying damp ground, with the bank of Castletown River c. 10m to the N and on the boundary between the baronies of Inchiquin and Burren. Periodically the lowlying ground is covered by Carran Turlough, transforming the hillock into an island. Westropp (1896, 364) also noted this siting of the cashel, ‘which in winter forms a sort of crannoge.’ Hachured on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Indicated and labelled ‘Cahersabaun’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and the 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Indicated and named ‘Cathair Sabháin’ on Robinson’s (1977) map. This D-shaped cashel (17m N-S) with straight N side (L 36m) is defined by a broad stone bank (av. Wth 3-4m; int. H 0.3-0.4m) with an outer revetment wall which is best preserved from NW to NE (av. H 2m). In places (most clearly at the SW) this wall is built on bedrock outcrop. Westropp (1896, 364; 1905, 219) described this wall (Wth 3.66m; H 3.96m) as well built and of ‘large blocks’, surviving best at S-W but ‘gapped and lower to the north’. He also noted a ‘destroyed’ entrance at the SE. The interior of the enclosing bank has been partly robbed out along the S half of the perimeter. Later walls are built over the outer revetment wall at the E and W. The cashel interior is a little stony.

The following image has been uploaded:
CL010-067----_01.jpg Sketch view from ENE (Westropp 1896, 364)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 23 May 2023

References

Westropp, T. J. 1905 Prehistoric remains (Forts and Dolmens) along the borders of Burren, in the county of Clare. Part 1 – The Eastern Border. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 205-29.

Westropp, T.J. 1896 Prehistoric stone forts of northern Clare, parts I & II. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 26, 142-58, 362-9.

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.