Ringfort (Cashel), Lisheenacrannagh, Co. Galway

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Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Lisheenacrannagh, Co. Galway

A laneway cuts straight through the interior of this ancient enclosure at Lisheenacrannagh, running from east to southwest as though the site were simply a convenient shortcut between fields.

It is an oddly domestic intrusion into a structure that was already old when the surrounding landscape was still being shaped by hand.

The cashel, a type of ringfort built from unmortared stone rather than earthen banks, sits on a hill overlooking the Coole River to the southeast. It is subcircular in plan, measuring roughly 45 metres north to south and 40 metres east to west, and its drystone enclosing wall survives in fair condition across much of its circuit. At the northern and southeastern sections, field-clearance rubble has been piled against or over the wall, blurring the line between ancient boundary and accumulated agricultural tidying. Cashels of this kind are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, functioning as enclosed farmsteads for a family or small community, the stone construction reflecting a landscape where good building material was easier to come by than timber. The name Lisheenacrannagh itself carries traces of that past, combining elements suggesting a small fort and the presence of trees or a tree-lined feature, though the hill today is open and unwooded.

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Pete F
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