Ringfort (Cashel), Derrineden, Co. Kerry

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Derrineden, Co. Kerry

On a natural terrace in Derrineden, Co. Kerry, a stone enclosure sits in a state of considerable ruin, its walls partially collapsed and its interior occupied by a sheepfold that was almost certainly built long after the original structure was abandoned.

What makes it worth noting is not its condition but its context: this is one of a cluster of four cahers in the same area, a caher being a type of stone ringfort built with dry-stone walling rather than an earthen bank. Finding four in proximity suggests a settled, organised community once worked this landscape, though the details of who they were and when they lived here remain unresolved.

The enclosure is subcircular in plan, measuring roughly 15 metres north to south and 24 metres east to west. Its surrounding wall, on average 2.3 metres wide and built with large slabs on both inner and outer faces, survives to about 1.2 metres in height at best, with considerable stone collapse piled against its outer side. A gap in the northeast, 1.45 metres wide, marks the original entrance, and a substantial upright slab just over a metre high still stands on its northern flank. Inside, the remains of a small subrectangular hut survive in the stony interior, its walls still reaching roughly 0.9 metres, enclosing an interior space of only 2.6 by 2 metres. Towards the centre of the enclosure a more recent rectangular sheepfold, measuring 8.4 by 4.7 metres, was constructed at some point, reusing the sheltered space in a practical if archaeologically inconvenient way. The site sits 150 metres south of a related monument on the same terrace, suggesting the four cahers of this group were deliberately positioned in relation to one another across the hillside.

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