Ringfort (Cashel), Cragballyconoal, Co. Clare

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Cragballyconoal, Co. Clare

In the townland of Cragballyconoal in County Clare, satellite imagery has revealed the faint outline of what may be an early medieval enclosure, visible from above but easy to overlook on the ground.

The feature is subrectangular in shape, measuring roughly 19 metres by 21 metres, with rounded corners that give it the softened geometry typical of Irish cashels.

A cashel is a type of ringfort built from dry-stone walling rather than earthen banks, and they are found throughout Ireland, particularly in areas where stone was more readily available than deep soil for digging. The Clare example at Cragballyconoal was identified through Digital Globe imagery and catalogued as a possible cashel by Bowmer in 2019. The cautious designation matters. The subrectangular plan and rounded corners are consistent with early medieval enclosures, but without ground survey or excavation, the identification remains provisional. Ringforts and cashels in Ireland date broadly from the early medieval period, roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries, and typically served as enclosed farmsteads for individual family groups rather than defensive strongholds in any military sense. Thousands exist across the country, many still unexcavated and poorly understood.

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