Ringfort (Cashel), Ballyganner, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Ballyganner, Co. Clare

Most early medieval enclosures in Ireland are roughly circular, so the rectangular footprint of this cashel at Ballyganner already marks it out as something worth a second look.

A cashel is a stone-walled ringfort, and this one sits on the exposed karst pavement of the Burren, that distinctive limestone landscape where bare rock meets thin, patchy grass. The enclosure measures about 30 metres north to south and just under 29 metres east to west, defined by a double-faced dry-stone wall roughly 1.5 metres wide. The wall-faces are built from large, horizontally laid slabs, each around a metre long, though the lower courses are now largely buried under a spread of collapsed rubble that in places extends six to eight metres across.

The interior tells a complicated story. At some point after the cashel was built, quarrying took place inside the enclosure, gouging out enough material to leave a pronounced shelf of higher ground running along the eastern and northern perimeter, with a step of roughly 1.5 metres marking the edge. At the lowest point of the interior, near the north-east centre, there is a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber typically associated with storage or concealment in early medieval Ireland. A probable corral, defined by a much slighter wall, occupies most of the south-west quadrant, suggesting the enclosure served agricultural as well as domestic purposes at some stage. The site does not sit in isolation. A hut site and a second souterrain lie about 55 metres to the north-west, a separate cashel known as Cahernaspeekee is roughly 89 metres to the north-north-west, an enclosure lies about 108 metres to the north, and a cairn sits around 40 metres to the east-south-east. Together these features point to a densely layered, multiperiod landscape in which this rectangular cashel is one node among many, each successive use of the land leaving its own particular mark on the limestone.

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), Ballyganner, Co. Clare. 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