Cashels of this kind date broadly to the early medieval period, roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries, and served as enclosed farmsteads for a single family and their livestock. The circular stone wall was both a practical boundary and a marker of status in a society where landholding was closely tied to kinship and law. Clare is limestone country, and the ready availability of good building stone meant that cashels were a practical as well as a traditional choice across the region.