Ringfort (Cashel), Áth An Charbaill, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Áth An Charbaill, Co. Kerry

On a north-facing slope above the Lispole valley in County Kerry, a roughly oval ringfort known as Lios an Anacail holds a puzzle at its centre: a stone dwelling, a low unexplained mound, and two doorways whose full purpose remains only partially understood.

This kind of site, a cashel, is a ringfort built primarily from stone rather than earthen banks, common across the west of Ireland in the early medieval period and typically associated with a single farming household or small community. What makes this particular example quietly arresting is the density of unresolved detail contained within a relatively compact space.

The enclosure measures approximately 28 metres north to south and 25 metres east to west, its surrounding wall averaging 3 metres in width. Because the ground slopes away to the north, the wall's external face rises to around 1.5 metres on the northern and western sides, while dropping to roughly 0.7 metres at the south, giving the structure an asymmetry that reads differently depending on which direction you approach from. Two gaps in the north-eastern section of the wall appear to be original entrances. The southern of these is carefully formed, its sides defined by upright slabs with drystone masonry, the technique of fitting stones together without mortar, packed between them. Directly north of the entrance stands a large stone placed at right angles to the wall line; its function has not been established. At the centre of the enclosure sits a clochaun, a small circular dry-stone building of the type sometimes called a beehive hut, with an internal diameter of around 5.3 metres and walls nearly 1.8 metres thick. Its north and south sections survive to nearly a metre in height, while the east and west portions have largely fallen. Inside, a slab with a small circular perforation at one end may have served as a pivot stone for the door, the kind of simple hinge mechanism used before metal fittings were common. A similar stone was formerly recorded near the cashel's outer entrance. In the south-eastern quadrant, a low mound about 8.5 metres across and half a metre high abuts the cashel wall from within; what it represents, a collapsed structure, a storage feature, something else, remains unclear. An earlier record mentioned a souterrain, an underground passage typically used for storage or refuge, somewhere within the site, but no trace of it is now visible above ground.

The site's Irish name, Lios an Anacail, and the surrounding Dingle Peninsula landscape reward careful attention to the ground underfoot, where the relationship between the clochaun, the mound, and the two entrances raises more questions than the surviving stonework can currently answer.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort (Cashel), Áth An Charbaill, Co. Kerry. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement