At Carrownaherick in County Galway, an early medieval cashel, a type of ringfort defined by a drystone rather than earthen boundary wall, survives in a fairly sorry state, its oval perimeter measuring roughly 34.5 metres north to south and 31.4 metres east to west. The wall itself has been grassed over to the point where it leaves no visible trace on the northern side, precisely where a more recent field boundary cuts across it. What remains is less a monument than a faint suggestion of one, legible mainly to those who already know what they are looking for.

Inside the enclosure, two circular stone structures survive, their outlines described by low lines of boulders. The more northerly of the two is the smaller, around 3.2 metres in diameter, with a rubble core and a discernible entrance facing east. A rectangular sheep-pen, built at some later point, partly overlies its northern arc, neatly illustrating how these early sites were often cannibalised for whatever practical use the land demanded. The second structure, about 2 metres to the south, is somewhat larger at 4.5 metres in diameter, its circuit formed by a single line of boulders. Cashels of this kind are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, typically serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family or small kin group. The cluster continues beyond the enclosure itself: a further house site lies approximately 175 metres to the east-south-east, suggesting a settlement that extended well beyond the cashel's wall.