Ringfort - cashel

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located on a rise, flanked to E and W by N-flowing streams. There are good but not extensive views over the surrounding undulating terrain, with wet or boggy areas in the lowlying hollows. A cluster of ruined vernacular stone buildings is located immediately to W.
This cashel consists of a roughly circular area (32.7m N−S; 29m W−W) enclosed by a substantial drystone wall (Wth 2m; int. H 1.6m, 0.5m at W; ext. H 1.5-1.6m at S, 2.5-3m at NW). It appears to straddle a natural fall of ground to N, with the result that the enclosing wall on the N arc is substantially higher, built against a low scarp.
The wall is constructed of random rubble, with large boulders used in the basal courses. The internal wall face has slumped or collapsed in parts, and it is reduced on the W arc to a low jumble of stones. The external wall face is obscured by blackthorn scrub and field clearance debris at NE−ESE, but it is well preserved at SE−SW; at W−NNW it is incorporated into a later NE−SW field wall and field clearance stones are piled against the wall face so that the overall width of the modified wall here is 3-4m. A ruined 18th- /19th-century stone-built cottage abuts the wall at W.
There is a break (Wth 2.2m) in the wall at N, but it unclear of this is an original entrance.
The interior is level and featureless.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 30 March 2021