Ballyallaban ringfort

Situated immediately W of a roadway on the E shoulder of a NE-SW valley with excellent views of Ballyvaughan and Galway Bay to the N in an area subject to dense scrub growth. A circular stone fort defined by two concentric walls (c. 30-45m apart) with radial walls extending from the inner to the outer wall at NW, W and SW. The inner enclosure (51.4m NE-SW; 45.8m NW-SE) is defined by a well-preserved wall (H 2-3m; av. Wth 2.3m) though best preserved at W and NW. It has an inner and outer face of large uncut limestone blocks with a rubble fill. The largest blocks (some over 1m in length) are at the base. Some possible terracing is evident at S and SW. A lintelled entranceway at E (Wth 1.6m) has a splayed entrance passage and a single small chamber at each side. A sketch (Westropp 1901, 282-3) shows this to have been a two-storey construction. Excavation (Licence no. 99E0506) in this area took place in June 1999 as the entranceway was blocked with rubble and the lintel had fallen across the entrance passage. The excavations revealed that the structures around the entrance were a 14th/15th-century addition to the pre-existing fort and that the original cashel wall had been lowered to facilitate construction. FitzPatrick (2009, 294) describes the entrance as ‘a rectangular structure of rubble masonry, mortared throughout, with a square-headed, lintelled doorway leading into a splayed entrance passage flanked on either side by a guard-chamber.’ Apparently no corbels or stairs were found to indicate an upper floor. A scallop shell from below the foundations was radiocarbon dated to AD 1308. The lintel was replaced and the entranceway was consolidated in 2001.

The interior of the inner enclosure slopes down in all directions from the centre and there are remains of several internal structures. At S, close to the enclosing wall, is a subrectangular building (CL005-094007-) extending E-W with an enclosed area adjoining it to the W. Within this enclosed area is a small single-chambered structure (int. dims. 2.8m x 1.6m) built against the inner wall of the fort at SW. A possible hut site (CL005-094006-) indicated on a plan in 1901 (Westropp 1901, 283) in the N section of the interior is evident as a number of grass-covered stones. At NW a number of insubstantial poorly constructed walls against the inner wall form two subrectangular enclosures. These may have been more recent animal enclosures.

Outside the E entrance is a platform defined by a stone-faced rock-cut fosse (Wth 2.8m) back-filled with rubble. This provided an extra defense to the approach to the fort. It extends N-S for 18.3m and then turns W for 8.5m until it meets the cashel wall. There is no return evident at the N end. An opening (Wth 1.3m; H 0.3m) in the E face of this feature may represent a passage or souterrain opening. Another narrower opening (Wth 0.8m; H 0.3m) spanned by a stone lintel is present S of a possibly later curved field wall immediately S of the platform. It may also be a souterrain opening.

The radial walls subdividing the area between the inner and outer enclosures are collapsed and overgrown. The outer enclosing wall (max. H 2.3m; Wth 0.95-1.2m) only survives from N through W to S. It is constructed of both large (0.8-1m) and small (0.3-0.4m) uncut limestone blocks which are roughly coursed throughout, with an inner and outer face and rubble in between. A D-shaped enclosure (13.5m x 7.5m) defined by single stones is built against the interior of the outer wall at WNW. Another cashel (CL005-094004-) lies c. 33m to the SE and an enclosure (CL005-094005-) lies c. 60m to the E. Cahermore is a national monument in State care, no. 648. (Westropp 1901, 282-4; FitzPatrick 2000, 12; FitzPatrick 2001, 45-63; FitzPatrick 2009, 293-5)