What is recorded here

Coskeam is a ruined stone ringfort perched on a narrow Clare spur where steep falls drop away on three sides, forcing anyone who approached to climb the northern terrace into the tooth of the ridge. Its double-faced wall still stands broad enough to bar a charge, though collapsed stone now fills the yard and two faint house circles wait beneath the debris. A later animal shelter leans against the inner wall, proving the fort never fully released its claim on the land.

Defensively sited on a narrow spur at the SE at S end of a high steep-sided ridge, named Dún Beag, with short but steep falls just outside the site from ENE to SW. Hachured and named ‘Coskeam fort’ on the 1842 and 1915 eds of the OS 6-inch maps. A poorly preserved subcircular cashel (int. dims. 28.3m NE–SW; 26.3m NW–SE) defined by a double-faced stone wall (original Wth 2.2–3m), tumbled and rebuilt in places, and situated on partially quarried bedrock terracing, which results in the interior being an average 1.8m lower than the surrounding ground at N–NE. At NE a high, steep-sided bluff forms the enclosing element with traces of inner wall-facing near its SW foot. There is no obvious trace of an original entrance, but the easiest approach is along the terrace to the N so that is the most likely place. The inner face has a great deal of collapsed stone along its foot and the interior contains lots of loose stone. Two subcircular house sites lie close to the centre (CL006-062002- and CL006-062003-) and an adjacent cairn of stones may obscure a third. A later drystone animal shelter (3m x 3m) is built against the inner side of the cashel wall in the NW sector. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 13 September 2021

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.