Croaghan Island Stone Ringfort

On Croaghan Island, a small rocky island located in a long inlet that opens to NE off Mulroy Bay, at the NW end of the Fanad Peninsula. The island is hump-backed, with the high interior sloping outward to a cliff-edged perimeter. It is overlooked at E by the steeply rising slopes of the mainland. It is easily accessible from the mainland, separated from it by a narrow channel of shallow water, which becomes a natural gravelly causeway at low tide. A rock outcrop projecting from the island and a similar rocky projection on the mainland narrow the watery gap/causeway to a length of c. 15m. The causeway has been augmented in the modern era by the addition of low, roughly piled boulders (Wth 0.8-1m; H 0.4m) and fragments of concrete water piles. A small stony beach on the opposite, NW side of the island provides a landing for boats. The island is largely engulfed in hazel and blackthorn scrub and dense clumps of brambles and bracken. This possible cashel encompasses a relatively level terrace at the SE tip of the island, exploiting the natural terrain to good effect. To NW–N ground rises to the rocky summit dominating the N half of the island; this high point provides excellent views N and S along the length of the inlet. Subcircular or oval area (c. 65-70m N–S; c. 60m E–W) defined on the W half in a broad curving arc SSE–NE by a stone bank/wall. The wall is concealed by bracken and brambles and is difficult to examine; it is mostly evident as a low, vegetation-covered rise. Where sections all can be glimpsed, it appears to consist of a slumped bank (Wth 1.5-2m) of large stones with no obvious evidence of built masonry. At N it disappears into an impenetrable ticket of hazel, blackthorn and brambles so that the NE arc cannot be follow. A gap (Wth c. 2m) in the enclosing wall at W is possibly an original entrance. The wall appears to terminate at NE and SE at the cliff/scarp that edges the island. The E arc of the enclosure, therefore, coincides with the break of slope at the top of the cliff, and it is unclear if the enclosing wall ever continued here along the top of the cliff. The top of the cliff forms a broadly sloping vegetation-covered scarp, which then becomes a vertical rock-face, dropping to the water’s edge. The interior of the enclosure is strewn with stones, and largely obscured by bracken and clumps of brambles. It slopes down gently from the enclosing wall at W towards the centre where it levels out. A gapped linear stony feature, concealed by overgrowth, on a roughly N–S axis coincides with the change of slope, possibly a subdivision of the interior. Rock-outcropping protrudes in the NE quadrant of the interior and there is a rectangular enclosure (DG017-031002-) of uncertain function in the level SE quadrant. This possible cashel is not shown on any edition of the OS 6-inch maps. It is difficult to examine at ground level, and difficult to interpret and date. It may be a cashel, or it may be an enclosure of later date. Notified to National Monuments Service by Martin Cauley. Attached images: DG017-031001-_01.JPG Possible cashel viewed from NW DG017-031001-_01.JPG W arc of enclosing wall viewed from N Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 20 June 2023