Ringfort (Cashel), Commons, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Ringforts
The eastern wall of this small rectangular enclosure on a south-facing slope in County Clare serves two purposes at once: it is part of an ancient structure, and it is also the live boundary separating the townlands of Ballyportry North and Commons South.
That kind of double life, where early medieval stonework quietly props up a modern administrative line, is not unheard of in Ireland, but it remains quietly arresting when you encounter it in detail.
The site sits on a karst slope, meaning the underlying limestone has been shaped by centuries of water dissolving the rock, producing the fractured, stony terrain characteristic of much of the Burren region. Dense hazel scrub now covers the enclosure, which measures roughly 23.5 metres north to south and 12.7 metres across internally, making it a relatively modest example of what is generally classified as a cashel, a ringfort constructed primarily from stone rather than earth and timber. What makes this one particularly interesting is the variation in how each side was built and how each has survived. The east and west perimeters are defined by inward-facing scarps topped with loose stone, the western side also carrying a rough boulder line. The northern boundary is a broad stony bank overlain by a later drystone wall. The southern limit is a double-faced stone wall, the most formally constructed element of the whole circuit. The interior sits noticeably lower than the ground outside, particularly to the east and west. The structure was recorded on the first Ordnance Survey six-inch maps in 1842 and again on the Cassini edition of 1920, suggesting it was a visible, if already degraded, feature across that entire period.
