Ringfort (Cashel), Carn More, Co. Mayo

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Carn More, Co. Mayo

On a south-west-facing slope at Carn More in County Mayo, a circular enclosure sits quietly in pasture, its walls reduced to little more than a low, moss-covered rise of tumbled limestone.

It takes a moment to read the landscape correctly, to understand that what looks like a slightly raised, irregular bank is actually the collapsed perimeter of a cashel, the term used for a ringfort built from stone rather than earthen banks and ditches. At roughly 35 metres east to west and just under 37 metres north to south, it is a substantial enclosure, and from its terrace the ground opens to good views stretching south-east to south-west across the surrounding countryside.

The wall that once defined this space was built to a width of between two and a half and three metres, and though it now stands no higher than about twenty centimetres above the ground surface, facing stones survive in situ along parts of the inner face, giving a sense of how carefully it was once constructed. The northern third of the interior sits noticeably higher than the rest, sloping down sharply towards the centre before levelling out, suggesting the builders took deliberate advantage of the natural topography of the terrace. A low section of the enclosing wall on the eastern side, measuring four to five metres across, is thought to mark the original entrance, positioned to face a continuation of the same terrace running east. Inside, a ruined internal wall runs for sixteen metres from that eastern boundary through the heart of the enclosure, ending just two metres short of a horseshoe-shaped stone structure in the north-west quadrant, which may represent the remains of a hut site. The relationship between this internal wall and that possible dwelling space is suggestive of how the interior was once organised and used, though the details remain open to interpretation.

The western third of the interior has been largely overtaken by hawthorn, hazel, and blackthorn scrub, which obscures the ground and makes that portion of the site difficult to examine closely. A field wall following a roughly north to south line crosses the western edge of the cashel, marking a townland boundary, a reminder that later agricultural and administrative divisions have been quietly layered over the older landscape without entirely erasing what lies beneath.

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Pete F
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