What is recorded here

Caherlahertagh is a ruined stone ringfort in County Clare where Flaherty’s name still belongs to the land. Westropp walked its stony interior in 1897, saw heaps of fallen blocks and a T-shaped wall dividing the space, and recorded the fort as both Flaherty’s and Caherparkcaimeen. The outer wall has largely given way to pasture and scrub, but three courses of large horizontal stones still stand from the south to the west, holding the shape of a house, fence or fortress that time has not fully erased.

In pastureland on a slight rise sloping to the WSW, within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). Hachured and labelled ‘Caherlahertagh’ on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Labelled ‘Cathair Fhlaitheartach’ on Robinson’s map (1977). When visited by Westropp (1897, 125), about ‘5 feet’ (c. 1.5m) of the ‘finely built’ wall of this cashel rose over ‘heaps of fallen blocks’. The top of the wall was level with the interior, which was ‘divided into three by a T-shaped wall’. Westropp (1900, 398) recorded its name as ‘Flaherty’s Fort’ and subsequently noted that it was known locally as ‘Caherparkcaimeen’ (ibid., 1915, 262). This raised subcircular area (ext. dims. 37m N–S; c. 36m E–W) is defined by a collapsed stone wall (Wth c. 5.5m; ext. H 1–2.2m; int. H 0.2–0.3m). The outer wall-face is best preserved from S to W, where up to three courses of large horizontally laid stones (L c. 0.4m; H 0.4m) are visible. Traces are also visible from NW to NNE but it has been almost completely removed from NNE to ESE and elsewhere only the basal course survives. The wall is overgrown with scrub from SE to W. The interior is stony and overgrown with nettles and grass. There is a possible house site (CL009-059127-) in the N half. The remains of old field walls running from the centre towards the E and S may be the remains of the ‘T-shaped wall’ noted by Westropp (1987, 125). Another E–W running wall crosses the site to the N of these. Archaeological testing carried out c. 18m to the SW of the site, in relation to the extension of a house, identified no archaeological remains (Delaney 2009, 26, No. 101). A possible enclosure (CL009-059002-) lies c. 75m to the SW and there is a wedge tomb (CL009-098----) c. 90m to the NNE. The following image has been uploaded: CL009-059003- aerial photograph from N.jpg Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 2 March 2022

Caherlahertagh, Caherminnaun West is a ringfort, likely dating to the early medieval period, situated on a slight rise within a multiperiod field system. The name and its hachured depiction on early Ordnance Survey maps suggest a long-standing local recognition, while the partial Gaelic name "Cathair Fhlait" may hint at a forgotten historical or legendary association, possibly with a person or event.

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