Ringfort (Cashel), Sheshymore, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Ringforts

Ringfort (Cashel), Sheshymore, Co. Clare

Beneath a scatter of hazel trees in County Clare, a ringfort has been slowly disappearing into the ground for centuries.

What survives at Sheshymore is a cashel, a type of ringfort defined by a stone wall rather than an earthen bank, and what remains here is barely legible as a structure at all. The outer wall, once presumably a confident boundary of dry-laid stone, now reads as a low, grass-covered spread no more than ten centimetres high on the interior side, rising to a modest eighty centimetres on the exterior. Only the northern arc retains any real presence, where the spread widens to seven metres and the interior height reaches sixty centimetres. The overall footprint is roughly subcircular, measuring approximately twenty-four metres north to south.

The site sits at the edge of a plateau that slopes gently to the south-east, and it was recorded on Ordnance Survey six-inch maps in both 1842 and 1920, suggesting it was at least identifiable as an earthwork through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A later drystone wall, built at some point after the cashel fell out of use, cuts across the site from south-west to north-east, complicating the already difficult task of reading the original form. Cashels of this kind are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, when enclosed farmsteads defined the rural landscape. This one has lost most of the detail that might once have told a more specific story. What adds a quiet interest to the location is that another cashel of the same type lies roughly ninety-five metres to the north-east, suggesting this corner of the hazel wood was once a settled and structured place, even if the evidence is now little more than a faint thickening in the ground.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort (Cashel), Sheshymore, Co. Clare. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement