Ringfort (Cashel), Ballyganner, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Ballyganner, Co. Clare

On the western edge of the Burren's limestone pavement in County Clare, a roughly circular stone enclosure sits in reclaimed rough pastureland, its double-faced walls still legible in the landscape despite centuries of rubble accumulation and encroaching vegetation.

This is a cashel, the Irish term for a ringfort built from stone rather than earthen banks, and the example at Ballyganner is a quietly detailed one, measuring roughly 25.6 metres east to west and 22 metres north to south. The outer wall-face is notably well preserved, composed of large horizontally laid stones and still standing between 0.6 and 1.7 metres in height on the exterior. Two sets of vertical joints are visible in it, one at the south-west and another at the north-north-west, suggesting repairs or phased construction at some point in the structure's life.

The cashel sits within a large multiperiod field system, meaning the land around it was divided and worked across several distinct periods of history, and the enclosure itself was already old enough to be mapped when the Ordnance Survey produced its 25-inch plan in 1897 and its revised 6-inch map in 1920. Inside the walls, the ground holds further complexity: a grass-covered cairn runs from the north-north-east toward the south-east, with a larger cairn at its southern end, and two curvilinear banks extend outward from the wall at the west. A possible stone-lined drain is visible in the wall spread at the south-east. Against the outer wall at the north-east, a small later structure, recorded as a sheepfold on the 1897 map and measuring roughly 2 metres long by 1.3 metres wide, was built directly onto the ancient masonry, its northern side now collapsed. About 104 metres to the east lies a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site typically identified by a mound of fire-cracked stone, often associated with water and communal or ritual use, which suggests this part of the Burren was a focus of human activity across a long stretch of prehistory.

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