What is recorded here

Derrynavahagh Caher is a subcircular stone ringfort in the Caher valley, County Clare, where karst uplands stare down from both sides like jealous guards. Its earth-and-stone bank still stands barely a metre high, yet the ground around it feels packed and deliberate, as if people once lived inside a shallow bowl cut from the valley floor. The name appears on old maps but the place resists easy finding, suggesting it belongs less to human memory than to the shifting logic of the valley itself.

Situated in rough but improved pasture in the Caher valley, c. 300m to the E of the Caher River. Overlooked by karst uplands from E and W, with views along the valley to the NW. Hachured and named ‘Derrynavahagh Caher’ on the 1840 and 1916 eds. of the OS 6-inch map, although the hachuring on the 1840 ed. is placed c. 30m to the W. A subcircular cashel (33m E-W; 32m N-S) defined by a bank of stone and earth (Wth 2.4-3.1m; H 0.7-1.3m) with some external facing surviving at the base on the E side. A possible entrance (Wth 1.6m) is located at the SE and a possible annexe (CL005-007002-) abuts the cashel to the SW. Westropp (1901, 17) noted that on three occasions he did not succeed in finding this cashel. A small enclosure (CL005-007003-) lies c. 37m to the W. A holy well named ‘Toberlonaun’ or Tobair Lónain’ (CL005-009----) is located c. 150m to the ESE. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Olive Alcock and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 29 September 2021

Derrynavahagh Caher is a ringfort, likely dating to the early medieval period, situated in a pastoral landscape in the Caher valley. Local tradition and the name suggest possible associations with fairy folklore, common in such sites across Ireland.

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