Caherhenry, Greethill, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Ringforts

Caherhenry, Greethill, Co. Galway

On a south-facing slope in the pastureland of Greethill, a hay-shed now occupies the north-western corner of what was once a substantial stone enclosure.

That detail, almost offhand in its ordinariness, says something about how thoroughly the working landscape of Connacht has grown around, and sometimes into, its older archaeology.

The structure is a cashel, a type of early medieval stone ringfort built from drystone walling rather than earthen banks. At its widest, the enclosure measures roughly 32 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west, making it a fairly substantial example of its kind. The wall is best preserved along the western arc, where the drystone construction is still legible; elsewhere, centuries of weathering, robbing, and agricultural activity have reduced it to a low, grassed-over stony bank that could easily be overlooked from a distance. A gap of about a metre in the south-western section looks to be a modern breach rather than an original entrance, a small but telling sign of how these sites accumulate casual alteration over time.

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Pete F
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