Ringfort (Cashel), Carrowkeel, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Carrowkeel, Co. Galway

At Carrowkeel in County Galway, a roughly oval enclosure sits quietly in a field, its drystone walls long since collapsed and grassed over.

This is a cashel, a type of stone-walled ringfort, and what makes this one quietly compelling is less what survives than how much has blurred back into the landscape. Measuring approximately 29 metres north to south and 23 metres east to west, it is not especially large, but the traces that remain reward careful attention.

The enclosing wall is best preserved along the eastern and southern arc, and a gap on the eastern side, about two metres wide, may represent the original entrance. Inside the NE quadrant, a low stony bank running roughly east to west, about 20 metres long, appears to mark an internal division, perhaps separating a living area from a space used for animals or storage. Field walls radiating outward from the southwest also seem to be connected, suggesting this cashel was not a solitary structure but part of a broader working landscape. Indeed, another cashel lies roughly 80 metres to the northwest, and both sit within a documented field system, hinting at a community of enclosures that once organised this ground for farming, habitation, or both. Cashels of this type are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, when stone-walled enclosures served as farmsteads for individual family groups.

The site is described as poorly preserved, and that honesty is worth holding onto. Much of what once defined it is now little more than a grassed-over rise in the ground, easy to walk past without registering its age or purpose. The eastern wall section offers the clearest sense of the original structure, and from there the interior bank becomes more legible once you know to look for it.

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), Carrowkeel, Co. Galway. 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