Ringfort (Cashel), Ahapouleen, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Ringforts
In the townland of Ahapouleen in County Galway, a stretch of collapsed drystone walling traces the ghost of an early Irish farmstead, most of it now so thoroughly absorbed into the landscape that only about two-thirds of its original circuit can be read at all.
What remains is a cashel, the stone equivalent of an earthen ringfort, a roughly circular enclosure built from dry-laid stone without mortar, typically used in early medieval Ireland to define a farmstead and protect its inhabitants and livestock. This one measures approximately 32 metres across its north-north-west to south-south-east axis, making it a modest but not insignificant example of the type.
The monument is poorly preserved, and a modern field wall has cut directly across it at both the north-north-west and south-south-east ends, fragmenting what little coherence it once had. To the north-east, the enclosing wall has disappeared entirely, leaving no surface trace. The surviving arc runs from the south-south-east, around through the west, and up to the north-north-west, so the western side offers the clearest sense of the original structure. The site appears in published references as far back as Holt in 1912 and was noted again by McCaffrey in 1952, suggesting it has been known to antiquarians for over a century without receiving any great degree of attention or protection.