Cahermacnaghten Ringfort

This is an extensive multi-period field system including the townlands of Cahermacnaghten, Ballconnoe South, Ballydonohe, Ballygastell, Cahermakerrila, Ballyinsheen Beg, Lisdoonvarne, Lissylisheen, Ballyinsheen More, Ballymahony, Ballymurphy and Cahermaan.

The field system covers approximately 6km W-E by 1km N-S and includes 16 enclosures, 28 cashels/forts, a medieval school/house/church, other buildings, a kiln, several pens and enclosures and a clochán. Of the cashels/forts named are Caherbarnagh, Cahermakerrila, Cahermaan, Cahermacnaghten, Caheridoula, and Lissylisshen. The medieval school/house/church ‘Cowelteebrack’ has evolved and is believed to be the schoolhouse of the O’Davoren Brehon lawyers.

Looking at a couple of the cashels/forts – Cahermakerrila sits in the karst Burren plateau. It is a sub circular fort, with a drystone wall, raised interior and has an entrance. A lintel lies next to the entrance. In the interior, a hut site is present, possibly modern in date, after 1842. A distance from the fort is a house, hut site and enclosure of indeterminate age. Cahermaan cashel/ringfort sits within this extensive multi-period field system with a view of Slieve Elva to the North-West. This sub oval site has a double-faced drystone wall with a modern entrance, possibly made to hold sheep.

The clochán or hut site is near to the settlement of Cowelteebrack. The clochán is sub circular with a thick stone wall of large slabs of drystone karst. A V-shaped entry point is found to its east side.

The settlement of Cowelteebrack includes a building that has perplexed experts. The building is designated a ‘Church (in ruins)’ in the 1^st edition of OS 6-inch map. The architectural features are vast and unusual, with the building being noted to have parish church or medieval hall-type proportions with a late medieval pointed doorway with half-roll and fillet moulding. Possibly eight windows, in the Gothic style, provided light. Research suggests that this single-storey building with a loft was the schoolhouse of the Ó Dubhdábhoireann (O’Davoren) family, who, since medieval times, were noted scholars on Brehon law (Irish law in early medieval Ireland). The Ó Dubhdábhoireann in particular were experts on early Irish Kingship succession.

Brehon Law is amongst the oldest examples of a legal system in Europe. Originally Brehon laws were memorised by the Brehons (expounder of the law) in poetic verse and eventually Christian scholars wrote these laws down. Irish scholar D.A. Binchy, notes that the Brehon laws were ‘details that describe ancient life in the days when the Irish still lived in mud huts and small ringed settlements and paid their bills in cows and bacon’.

The Ó Dubhdábhoireann were known as professors of law at Cahermachaghten for several generations and had a school there. Domhnall Ó Dubhdábhoireann compiled the Brehon Law Glossary, a noted brehon lawyer and writer of the O’Davoren’s book 1564-70.

The building/schoolhouse has a radiocarbon age range of 1488-1603, the radiocarbon dating was obtained from an animal bone found in the floor. The building was refurbished in the 17^th century, abandoned, but perhaps used occasionally in the 18^th and 19^th century, and in the 20^th century it used to house animals.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014