What is recorded here

Lisnasprunane is a ruined stone cashel hidden beneath dense woodland on an elevated pasture slope in County Limerick. Its rocky bank still outlines a wide circular chamber, but the entrance gap and level interior have surrendered to scrub and mature trees. The name means fort of the gooseberry bushes, suggesting the place once ripened into bright purple food before it became a quiet green mystery.

In elevated pasture on a slight SW-facing slope with excellent views to the SW around to the NE and good views to the S and E to higher ground. The enclosure is located 10m N of the townland boundary with Fanningstown and 230m NW of the townland boundary with Rathbranagh. An enclosure (LI021-057----) lies 200m to SW. The site is depicted as a circular fort on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map and is annotated ‘Lisnasprunane’ or ‘Lios na Spíonán’ meaning fort of the gooseberry bushes (Joyce 1913, 324). It is depicted as a roughly heptagonal scarped enclosure (ext. diam. 52m N-S; 47m E-W) on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map. Inspected by the ASI in 2001 when it was described as a roughly circular area (int. diam. 30m) defined by an earth and stone flat-topped bank (Wth 5.7m; H 0.6m) with entrance gap (Wth 8m) at E . The interior is level, dry and densely overgrown. The bank is recorded as being very rocky and may be the remains of a collapsed stone cashel wall. No fosse was identified at the site. The site is covered in dense mature tree and scrub woodland visible on Google Earth orthoimages taken 28/06/2018 and 14/02/2020. See attached sketch plan surveyed and drawn by the ASI and Google Earth orthoimages. Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 11 August 2020

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