What is recorded here

Indicated is a ruined stone cashel on a flat ledge beneath a steep Clare ridge, where twenty other ringforts crowd the same slope. Its broad bank still stands half a metre high, blocking the view and refusing to explain whether it guarded people, sheep, or something older. The brambles have swallowed the entrance, leaving only a rectangular shadow beneath the mountain.

On a short flat stretch near the NW base of a steep ridge with good commanding view NW–NNE. Hachured on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map and indicated with two solid lines on the 1915 ed. Listed as ‘Enclosure’ in the SMR (1992) and the RMP (1996). A poorly preserved subrectangular cashel (int. dims. 23m N–S; 21.5m E–W) defined by a broad externally faced bank of stone (H 0.5–1m; av. Wth 4m; H 0.5–1m). There is no trace of an original entrance and the interior is generally level and featureless. Later walls are built on parts and the perimeter is overgrown with brambles. There is an unusual density of ringforts in this part of the Burren. Borlase (1897, 65) counted 20 between Derreen West and East and 33 on the slope on which they occur (including the NW-facing slope of Knockauns Mountain). Westropp (1901, 10–11) reported several of these to be largely levelled and rebuilt as sheepfolds but still believed them to be of ancient origin. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 16 December 2020

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.