Ringfort (Cashel), Ballynamona, Co. Sligo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Ballynamona, Co. Sligo

On a north-east-facing slope in County Sligo, a roughly oval enclosure sits quietly in rocky pasture, its ancient boundaries now carrying the added weight of later drystone field walls laid directly on top.

The effect is a kind of palimpsest in limestone, where the practical needs of later farmers have been layered over something considerably older, blurring the outline of the original structure without quite erasing it.

The site is a cashel, a term for a ringfort built from stone rather than earthen banks, a construction type common across Ireland from the early medieval period onward. This one measures approximately 28 metres north to south and 32 metres east to west, enclosed by a rubble limestone bank some 6.3 metres wide, though it stands only about half a metre above the interior ground level. There is no fosse, the external ditch that often accompanies such enclosures, visible at ground level. What makes this particular example quietly awkward to read is the degree to which later agricultural activity has reworked it: modern drystone field walls, averaging around 0.6 metres high, have been built along the north-west to north-east and south-east to south-west stretches of the bank, effectively commandeering the ancient structure as a convenient foundation. The original entrance has been lost entirely as a result, and the south-west to south-east interior perimeter is now densely overgrown with bushes and briars, further obscuring whatever profile remains.

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Pete F
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