Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

On a flat level summit near the top of a steep SSE-facing slope in an area of hilly fertile grassland with undrained lower slopes. Hachured and named ‘Cahergal’ on the 1916 OS 6-inch map. Listed as ‘cashel’ in the RMP (1996). Described by Westropp (1905, 211) as ‘levelled almost to the field’ and in 1913 (p. 260) ‘as a barely visible ring of filling on a pleasant hillock on the flank of Inchiquin Hill, overlooking the green valley towards Applevale’.
A subcircular rath (dims. 22.1m N-S; 19.75m E-W) defined by a scarp (H 1m) along the S and W and a rounded earthen bank (Wth 1.9m; int. H 0.35m; ext. H 0.15m) in the N. The centre is level and overgrown with nettles and thistles and there are multiple gaps for cattle. In the E, an earthen bank (Wth 1.5m; H 0.2m) runs along the perimeter of the central area and may be the remains of a land commission field boundary.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 19 July 2022

References

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 1 – The Eastern Border. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 205-29.