Cahermore — Roughaun

Near the bottom of a S-facing slope with good views to the E, SE and W. Hachured and named ‘Cahermore’ on the 1840 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. Listed as ‘enclosure’ in the RMP (1996). O’Donovan (Comber 1997, 15) recorded it in 1839, as ‘Cahirmore’ and ‘of thirty six yards in diameter, built of very large well shaped stones, the walls in some places seven feet high on the outside having a considerable batter or taper, and eight feet thick at the top (at height of seven feet)’ and opined that it was ‘the most remarkable’ of several cashels in the parish (ibid., 21). The souterrain was open in his time, but inaccessible ‘on account of the narrowness of the passage’ (ibid., 15). Westropp (1896, 367-8) described it as built ‘of finely fitted masonry’, with a visible outer face and a damaged inner face. He recorded the souterrain as ‘closed’ (Westropp 1900, 407). A well-preserved roughly circular cashel (ext. dims. 36.8m NE-SW) defined by a drystone wall (at S: Wth 2.1-2.3m; int. H 0.6m; ext. H 1.2m) and a spread of collapsed stone (Wth c. 6-7m; H 0.6-1m) with no visible entrance. The outer wall-face is generally visible, and the inner face is partially visible. In the SW, part of the wall has been rebuilt and a cell has been built on the wall at S. The interior slopes to the SW and a blocked up souterrain (CL016-052003-) is visible in the SE sector. The site of a tau cross (CL016-052002-) and cross fragment (CL016-052004-) are located c. 37m to the N and the site of a gateway (CL016-050----) is located c. 77m to the NW. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack Date of upload: 11 May 2022