Cloghauns — Gleann Fán

National Monument No. 156. Internal diam. 22.7m E-W, 16.7m N-S. Caher Murphy/Cathair Mhurfaí: This oval cashel is situated on the S slopes of Mount Eagle overlooking Dingle Bay. Much of its interior is occupied by a group of 5 roughly circular, conjoined clochauns, and a 6th irregularly-shaped structure. A souterrain passage extends from one of these huts to a chamber beneath the cashel wall. The site has been considerably restored by the OPW, and, during restoration work in the 19th century, an elaborate cross-slab was discovered; this is now housed in the NMI. A fragment of the upper stone of a rotary quern was also found lying loose within the cashel. Cashel wall: The oval enclosing wall consists of a rubble core faced externally and internally with well-built drystone masonry, up to 1.9m high. For much of the N half of its circuit, the inner face rises in 3 steps to the top of the wall, each step being c. 0.45m high. The entrance passage is now blocked. It faces ESE and measures 3.2m in length and 1.05m in width. The wall at this point is 1.1m high. At about its mid-point, a pair of upright jambstones are set into the walls of the passage. The passage opens onto a small open space or courtyard bounded to N by the huts. There is now no means of access to the open space between the rear of the huts and the enclosing wall. This area is now occupied by a modern wall, built to contain the debris cleared from other parts of the site. (1) This circular, drystone-built clochaun opens off the NW corner of the courtyard. There is possible evidence for a paved pathway between its entrance and that to the adjacent hut. This hut measures 5.4m in diameter internally and the corbelled wall stands to a maximum height of 1.75m. Directly N of the entrance there is a recess in the wall which may mark the former location of the cross-slab. This latter apparently acted as a jamb stone on this inner, N side of the entrance (Macalister 1899, 256). Souterrain: The well entrance to the L-shaped souterrain lies at the NW side of the interior of clochaun (1). From here the passage extends 4.65m in a WSW direction, and a wedge-shaped chamber opens off the W end of its S wall. The passage is up to .95m wide and 1.2m high and is roofed by a series of large, flat slabs; the walls are constructed of upright slabs overlain by drystone walling. The entrance to the chamber is marked by 2 upright slabs and is roofed by a single lintel. It is .4m wide x .7m high, and a .15m high sill stone spans the opening. The chamber measures 3.6m N-S x 1.45m E-W x 1.5m in maximum height. The E and S walls are of similar construction to the passage walls, but the W wall is entirely of drystone construction. Two projecting courses of large corbels, at the top of the S wall, support the single slab which roofs the chamber. The openings to 2 air-vents also occur in this S wall, about 1.2m above ground level. (2) This sub-circular clochaun is entered from the NNW side of clochaun (1). It measures 4.2m x 3.6m internally and the slightly corbelled, drystone-built wall stands to a maximum height of 1.6m. The paved entrance passage is 1.45m long and .9m wide. A low sill stone spans its inner end. A low, lintelled opening extends through the base of the wall at SW. It is .16m high, .23m wide and 1.35m long. Two projecting stones on the outer face of the wall may have acted as 'scaffolding' during the construction of the hut, or may have been used to tie down the roof material, if other than stone. (3) The W end of the courtyard, between clochaun (1) and the cashel wall, has been walled off to form an irregularly-shaped, unroofed structure measuring a maximum of 5.2m x 4.6m. The paved entrance is 1.07m long x .45m wide and opens onto the courtyard directly S of the entrance to clochaun (1). (4) An entrance passage on the N side of the courtyard leads to a circular hut, 4.7m in diameter internally. The drystone-built wall stands to a maximum height of 2m and is only very slightly corbelled. The entrance passage is 1.7m long and .7m wide at base narrowing to .52m at top. The 2 entrances at NW and SE lead into other huts. A stone-lined pit in the centre of this structure is probably a hearth site. Two stones on edge and a prostrate slab in the W part of the interior appear to define a passage leading to the entrance to clochaun (5) at NW. (5) A sub-circular, drystone-built clochaun measuring 4.5m x 3.55m internally. The wall stands to a maximum height of 2.1m and is slightly corbelled. The paved entrance passage faces SE and is 1.15m long x .61m wide. A lintelled recess at N measures .46m in height, .6m in width and .91m in depth. The 2nd recess noted by Macalister (1899, 255) is no longer evident. (6) This sub-circular hut lies directly N of the main entrance to the cashel, but the only access is by means of an entrance passage opening off clochaun (4). It is 3.3m in diameter and the drystone-built wall stands to a maximum height of 1.75m. The paved entrance is .92m long x .43m wide and is provided at its inner end with a low sill stone. The cupboard recess noted by Macalister (1899, 254) is no longer evident. Cross-slab: This slab measures 1.39m in height above the stand in which it is set, is .63m wide at base, and ranges between .02 and . 13m in thickness. Both broad faces and both sides are decorated. The following description is summarised from information provided by Beití Ó Tuama. The upper portion of one face bears a Maltese cross within a subcircular frame, with a short stem pendant from the frame. The cross is formed by 4 sunken panels which are separated from the intervening panels in false relief by narrow grooves, 1cm wide x 1.5cm deep. Beneath this design, on either side of the stem, is a saltire crosslet, that on the left being a plain linear cross, that on the right having slightly expanded terminals. Directly beneath the stem of the main cross is a tunic-clad human figure. A head, upstanding hair (or a halo?), 2 eyes, and a mouth are faintly visible. Even more faint is a diamond-decorated short tunic, from which stick-like arms and legs protrude. The arms appear to bend at the elbows towards the body, and the feet turn outwards in opposing directions. A spiral and chevron design runs down either side of the face from below the main cross to below the human figure where the designs are linked by a C-curve which runs across the width of the stone. The upper part of the opposite face bears a Greek cross with widely-expanded terminals; within the lower terminal is a very slightly raised triangle. Beneath the right terminal is a plain, equal-armed crosslet, and a plain linear crosslet also occurs between the left terminal of the main cross and the edge of the stone. Beneath the crosses, a triple, figure of eight knot spans the width of the stone. The single strand from which the design is formed swings upwards and downwards at opposite ends of the design, and then runs across the width of the stone framing the figure of eights above and below. Much of one side of the stone is decorated with an interlace design, now quite worn. The other side bears an unintelligible ogham inscription on a vertical stem-line. At top the stem-line terminates in a circle, and at base it terminates in an oval beneath which is a diamond motif. If read from bottom to top, the inscription reads LBMCBDV. Macalister (1945, 175-7) noted only the L before the M, and Rhys (1902, 378) read the 3 scores here as V. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 568. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013