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Cahermore

Fairy fort / stone ringfort
Cahermore
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What is recorded here

Cahermore is a massive, moss-choked stone ring on a low Clare ridge, its trapezoidal shadow stretching seventy-six metres through hazel and thorn. The ground outside the eastern wall drops away sharply, suggesting the builders chose the edge of a cliff to hide their size. A later field wall now cuts the interior in two, dividing the ancient space between modern farms while the original entrance remains a low, blocked scar at the north-east. The fort has lost most of its height, yet the scattered facing stones still mark the boundary of a place that once demanded attention before the pasture swallowed it.
On level ground in good pasture at the E end of low ridge with a low but steep drop immediately to the E, c. 235m S of the foreshore. Poor rough grazing land E and S partly improved with local field walls levelled. Hachured and named ‘Cahermore’ on the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps. Indicated on the 1915 ed. as an irregularly shaped area with a substantial wall. It was mentioned as ‘Baile i chonradhi’ in the rental of 1380 (after Westropp 1901, 279–80). A very large but very poorly preserved cashel roughly trapezoidal in plan with a rounded N end (int. dims. 76m N–S; 51m E–W) defined by a moss-covered spread (Wth 4-7m; max. H 1.5m) with occasional inner and outer facing-stones (not opposed) surviving in situ and best seen along the S outer wall-face (H 1.6m). At NNE a low stony bank (L 5m) may be the partially blocked-up site of the original entrance. A later field wall bisects the interior NNE–SSW and the site is divided between two farm owners. The area to the E and S has been cleared of the many small fields shown on the 1915 ed. of the OS 6-inch map and a great deal of cleared stone is piled outside the wall at E where the external ground is several metres lower. The interior is largely covered in hazel wood with some thorn and briar growth. The site of a possible subcircular enclosure (CL002-038----) lies c. 120m to the SW. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 9 December 2020

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What survives
Recorded monument

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