This one, sitting in low-lying pasture near Cross in County Mayo, breaks with that habit, which makes it quietly worth noting.

A cashel is a ringfort defined by its stone enclosure rather than earthen banks and ditches, and this example measures roughly 27 metres north to south and 28 metres east to west, a modest but coherent circular space bounded by a wall approximately two metres wide and one metre high. The proportions are typical of early medieval farmstead enclosures, structures that sheltered a family, their livestock, and perhaps a small cluster of outbuildings sometime between the sixth and twelfth centuries. What the wall looks like today, though, is not entirely what it once was; much of it appears to have been rebuilt at some point, meaning the stone you see has likely been handled and repositioned by hands working centuries after the original builders. That kind of quiet alteration is common in agricultural landscapes, where old walls get repaired, robbed for new construction, or simply tidied up without any particular awareness of their age.