Ringfort (Cashel), Cahirguillamore, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Cahirguillamore, Co. Limerick

On the Ordnance Survey's historic maps of County Limerick, this site appears as nothing more than a tree-plantation, with no antiquity symbol, no note of ancient origin.

That cartographic silence turns out to be telling: what the surveyors recorded as a ornamental clump of trees was almost certainly a prehistoric or early medieval cashel, a type of stone-walled ringfort, quietly absorbed into the landscaped grounds of a nineteenth-century country estate and left to be forgotten under its new identity.

The site sits within the former deerpark of Cahir Guillamore House, about 800 metres south of the house itself, and is surrounded on several sides by the earthworks of a medieval village, a medieval house site 70 metres to the north, and a castle site roughly 275 metres to the east. A description recorded in 1840 in the Ordnance Survey Letters captures the structure with some precision: an irregular enclosure of uncemented stonework, roughly 96 metres in circumference, with sides that were neither fully curved nor fully straight but formed what the writer called an irregular outline, with some notably large stones in the wall. The interior was, at that time, thickly planted with trees. The writer even speculated that the stones might have come from the original caher, the Irish word for a stone fort, that gave the townland its name. In 1942, the archaeologists Ó Ríordáin and Hunt catalogued it as Fort C, noting the raised interior and general appearance as suggestive of a ringfort, while acknowledging the uncertainty. Modern aerial photography has been more forthcoming: orthophotos from between 2013 and 2020 show a polygonal or D-shaped enclosure roughly 26 by 28 metres, with a notably straight eastern side approximately 28 metres long, and possible traces of an external fosse, a defensive ditch, visible around it.

The monument lies on demesne land, so access would need to be considered carefully. Because the enclosure is not prominently marked as an antiquity on standard maps, anyone visiting the broader Cahirguillamore area should look for the grass-covered stone wall rather than any signage. The well-preserved walling and the unusual straight eastern edge are the clearest indicators on the ground. The surrounding medieval earthworks extend across the landscape to the north, east, and south, meaning this cashel sits at the centre of a remarkably dense cluster of layered occupation, much of it unmarked and easily overlooked.

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), Cahirguillamore, Co. Limerick. 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