Fairy fort / stone ringfort in Loughgur

National monument No. 247. Cashel situated in area of rock outcrop 200m E of a small lake that was drained in the 19th century and which formed part of Lough Gur. The small lake had two islands known as 'Balie Islands' which are the remains of two crannóga (LI032-039001-/002-). A settlement cluster (LI032-053041-), Carraig Aille fort (LI032-053003-) excavated by Ó Ríordáin 40m to N and NNW respectively, three stone structures (LI032-052----) also excavated by Ó Ríordáin 165m to NNW. Stone fort listed as Carraig Aille II excavated by Ó Ríordáin (1949, 39). Prior to excavation the cashel was described as following; 'Before excavation this site was most unimpressive. The stones of the rampart were exposed for short distances to the southwest and west; a few stones showed at the eastern and south-eastern sides of the fort. The outline of the fort could be traced only by reason of the general configuration and we were surprised when excavation revealed so much of the fort rampart as well as other structural remains under the general accumulation of collapsed material and habitation refuse. After the excavation, the debris excavated from the fort was not replaced in or upon it, but the ramparts were allowed to stand free to indicate the character of the structure. Stones were replaced in the rampart but only so as to bring the more collapsed portions level with the higher parts. No attempt at restoration was made, however, beyond a height for which we had definite evidence. While Carraig Aille II cannot compare with the great stone forts of the western seaboard, it is, as it now stands, an interesting structure in an area where stone forts are not common. The fort is not regularly circular but is adapted to the configuration of the ground and the walls on the west and north sides form almost straight lines. The greatest overall diameter (southwest-northeast) is 156' [47.5m]. The wall, the thickness of which varies from slightly under 12' [3.65mm] to about 14' [4.3m], has a facing inside and outside of large, well-shaped, rectangular, lime stone blocks, placed in general in fairly regular horizontal courses. Between the blocks spalls are placed to keep the larger stones in position. Where the underlying rock dipped, the courses tended in places to dip out of the horizontal. The best limestone blocks were used at the entrance, but in general the size of the stones varied considerably the most usual size being about 1' [0.3m] x 1½' [0.45m] x 1' [0.3m], but some stones were much greater, one being as large as 6' [1.8m] x 2' [0.6m] x 15". Some straight joints in the wall are probably fortuitous since they do not correspond on the outer and inner faces of the rampart and can hardly be regarded as the starting points of different gangs of workmen as in the case of the fort at Cahercommaun. An irregular change in the curvature of the wall about 10' [3m] north of the entrance indicates that the planning was somewhat haphazard and that the direction of the wall was changed here to bring it into line with the other side of the entrance. Between the outer and inner faces the rampart was filled with smaller blocks of stone and rubble. The maximum existing height of the rampart was 3½' [1m], but in places where only one course of stones remained it had been reduced to as little as 1' [0.3m]. A portion of the rampart had evidently been removed in ancient times leaving a gap of about 14' at the north-east side of the fort and allowing free access between the fort and the house sites outside it. It is not possible to say what was the original height of the rampart, but that it stood to a greater height than the maximum 3½' [1m] found by excavation is shown by the fact that steps were constructed to allow of access to the. upper portion. These were provided at six points in the inner wall the number of steps which remained varying between one and three. It is noteworthy that the steps were more frequent at the southern side of the fort where the approach to it was more easy and attack from this quarter more likely. The rise of the steps ranged from 4" [0.1m] to 1' [0.3m]; they had a V tread and were about 2' [0.6m] in width. The steps were built into the wall and presumably gave access to a platform or terrace, outside which may have been a narrower portion of the wall forming a breastwork. Where three steps remained on the southern side of the fort the angle at which they rose was found to be approximately 45°. This means that the steps if continued in the same straight line would strike the outer face of a 12' [3.65m] thick rampart at a height of 12' [3.65m], but to allow for breastwork and platform of reasonable dimensions a height of 6' [1.8m] to 8' [2.4m] might be postulated - this would seem to agree with the amount of the collapsed material. The position of the entrance was not evident before excavation, the passage through the rampart which gave access to the fort having become completely filled. Clearance of the filling revealed that the stonework in the neighbour hood of the entrance was better and more carefully laid than elsewhere in the rampart. The thickness of the rampart on either side of the entrance was slightly over 14' [4.3m] and the entrance itself had a general width of 5' [1.5m] increased in the middle portion by recesses in the stonework. The passage was paved on the northern side and cobbled on the south. The paving was constructed of large regular blocks of stone, their average size being slightly over 1' [0.3m] square and about 1' [0.3m] in depth. The cobbling, which was composed of small closely set, rounded or flat stones, was set at a lower level so as to butt against the base of the paving, and since the cobbling did not continue under the paving, it is clear that they were in contemporary use. While the cobbling was confined to the entrance passage, the paving began outside the rampart on the northern side of the entrance and continued as a narrow causeway which ran in a curved line across the fort. As already mentioned a recess was constructed at either side of the entrance. These began about 3½' [1m] from the outer face of the rampart and continued for a distance of slightly over 5' [1.5m]. The northern recess had an average depth of about 9" [0.2m], while that on the south was 7" [0.17m] deep. At the eastern end of the north recess the plan shows a small rectangular niche which because of overlapping stones was not continuous vertically and could not have been used to hold a gate post. The recessing of the two sides of the entrance is a feature which we find again in Carraig Aille I [LI032-053002-], and it was evidently intended to allow the gate when open to be set back flush with the sides of the entrance. Of more general significance is the change in the type of house-building as between the earliest layer and the subsequent ones. On the rock and clay surfaces which formed the original ground level of the site there were remains of a number of round houses. The term "round" as used here, implies that the houses had curvilinear outlines - not that they were formally circular in plan. They seemed to have been of very light construction since the position of the walls was in most cases marked by a single line of stones and these were generally only one course in height. As well as these house remains there were also post-holes cut in the rock surface but with one exception these were not associated with the circular houses. The exception is the post-hole in D 17 which lies in the line of the wall-arc to the west of it. This post-hole (diameter 8" [0.2m], depth 5½" [0.15m]) contained in it the partly decayed butt of a wooden post. It was covered by a stone paving which was in turn covered by another. The house remains found in the upper levels at Carraig Aille II represented more substantial buildings than those at the lower levels. Large areas of paving were found - not complete for any one house and not all contemporary -