Fortification

The National Monuments Service's description

This enclosure is situated towards the centre of Illauncarbry, a small island in a sheltered inlet close to the E shore of Lough Corrib. The entire island has been planted with hardwoods which have reached maturity. It consists of a well-preserved inner subcircular enclosure (35m N-S; 30m E-W) defined by a mortared masonry wall. This is surrounded by a deep wide fosse filled with collapsed rubble which in turn is enclosed by a low counterscarp outer bank. A narrow opening in the inner cashel-like wall at ENE appears to be modern which together with the remnants of two walls projecting from the interior at the ESE may date to the late 18th/early 19th century when the island was inhabited by a recluse named Carbry (from whom the island takes its modern name) (Naessens & O’Conor 2012, 117). A sample of mortar from the inner enclosing wall returned a radiocarbon determination indicating a construction date ranging from AD 1020-1180 (ibid., 118). The remains of the 13th-century Cargin Castle (GA055-028----) lie 450m to the NE. The monument has been identified by Naessens and O’Conor (ibid., 117) as a possible pre-Norman fortification dating to the 11th/12th century. (Wilde 1872, 89-90; Kelly 1897, 387; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 304-5; Gosling 1993, No. 177)

Revised by: Paul Walsh

Revised date of upload: 18 April 2017

References

Killanin, M.M. and Duignan, M.V. 1967 (2nd ed.) The Shell guide to Ireland. London. The Ebury Press.

Wilde, W. 1872 Lough Corrib: its shores and islands with notices of Lough Mask. 2nd ed. Dublin. McGlashan and Gill.

Kelly, R.J. 1897 The islands of the Corrib. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 27, 379-88.

Gosling, P. (compiler) 1993 Archaeological inventory of County Galway, vol. 1: West Galway. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Naessens, P. and O'Conor, K. 2012 Pre-Norman fortification in eleventh- and twelfth-century Connacht. In Chateau Gaillard 25, 113-22.