Ringfort (Cashel), Lisheeneagh, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Ringforts
A cashel, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a stone-walled ringfort, the dry-stone equivalent of the earthen raths found across Ireland.
Most are roughly circular. The one at Lisheeneagh, on the western side of the Caher valley in County Clare, is conspicuously square, with boldly rounded corners and walls nearly five metres thick, the kind of construction that immediately sets it apart from the surrounding landscape of improved pasture and rough grazing.
The antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp visited in 1915 and found walls of "well laid slab work" still standing five to six feet high along the southern side, with a ruined modern house causing damage to the north. His description of "small rectangular fort of good masonry" remains largely accurate. The entrance is through a lintelled doorway in the chamfered south-east corner, a satisfyingly specific detail that survives well enough to be measured: 1.5 metres wide, 1.4 metres high above accumulated rubble. Inside, a dividing wall runs north to south, west of centre, suggesting the interior was partitioned at some point. A rectangular outshot projects from the north-west corner, a second rectangular structure sits roughly seven metres to the north, and the whole complex is enclosed within a larger oval enclosure. A further enclosure lies about 150 metres to the south, and the site sits within a multi-period field system that extends across the surrounding area, hinting at a long and layered history of land use. The placename itself carries an intriguing suggestion: John O'Donovan translated Lisín each, the Irish form of Lisheeneagh, as "little fort of the horses", though the Placenames Commission has not yet formally confirmed that rendering.