Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

On the summit of a steep and prominent hill in an area of hilly, uncleared coarse pasture and with a conifer plantation to the E. The field boundaries in the area have been levelled, the land to the N shows signs of earlier cultivation and the views are panoramic. Hachured and named ‘Cahersherkin’ on the 1840 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. Listed as Ringfort - cashel in the RMP (1996). Referred to by Westropp (1900, 430; 1905 361; 1913, 260) as ‘Cathair Seircin’ and described (1913, 260) as ‘only a small defaced ring-fort’.
A roughly circular rath (42m N-S; 41m E-W) defined by a steep-sided and rounded inner bank, a steep-sided and flat bottomed, marshy fosse (Wth 1.8m at base; max. Wth 2.5m in NW) and an outer bank which is wide at the base and narrows towards the top (Wth 1.4-3.1m at top; ext. H 0.3-0.6m; int. H 0.5-0.9m). Several cattle gaps are visible in the inner bank in the N, S and SW and a gap in the E (Wth 3.15m) along with a faint causeway across the fosse (H 0.1-0.2m) in the E is an original entrance gap. A single boulder lies near the causeway in the E. The outer bank is similar in form to the nearby earthen field boundaries and it may have been used and rebuilt as an earthen field boundary. Several cattle gaps cut through the outer bank which has been reduced to a low spread of earth (H c. 0.1m) from NE to E. The interior (19m N-S; 19m E-W) slopes to the E and is overgrown with rushes and reeds.

The following image has been uploaded:
CL016-104----_01 Aerial view of rath (Archaeological Survey Aerial Photo)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 19 July 2022

References

Westropp, T.J. 1900-02 The cahers of county Clare: their names, features, and bibliography. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Series 3, vol. 6, 415-49.

Westropp, T.J. 1913 Prehistoric remains (forts and dolmens) in the Corofin district, Co. Clare (no. 11). Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 43, 232-60.

Westropp, T. J. 1905 Prehistoric remains (Forts and Dolmens) along the borders of Burren, in the county of Clare. Part 2 - west Corcomroe. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 342-61.