Ringfort (Cashel), Cashellackan, Co. Donegal
In the southwest corner of a field in Cashellackan, County Donegal, a slightly raised circular area reveals the remnants of what locals have long called a 'fort'.
Ringfort (Cashel), Cashellackan, Co. Donegal
Sitting on an east-west ridge with boggy valley ground falling away immediately to the north, this ancient enclosure measures roughly 26 metres north to south and 23 metres east to west. The site is defined by a stony scarp topped with a moss-covered rim about two metres wide, standing highest at the northern and southern points where it reaches just over a metre in height. The eastern sections have been worn down over time to form a broad, gentle slope.
The interior tells its own story of age and use, with an uneven surface marked by a shallow circular hollow about two metres across in the southwest quadrant. This appears to be the remains of a cashel; a type of stone-built ringfort that was common throughout Ireland during the early medieval period. These structures typically served as fortified farmsteads for prosperous families, offering protection for both people and livestock within their sturdy stone walls.
The connection between this archaeological site and the townland’s name seems more than coincidental. Cashellackan itself derives from the Irish, likely meaning ‘little stone fort’, suggesting this very structure may have given the area its identity centuries ago. Though time and weather have reduced it to scattered stones and mossy mounds, the cashel continues to mark the landscape as a tangible link to the families who once called this ridge home, their stone walls standing watch over the boggy valley below.





