Cahergall

It was just a week and half earlier that we visited Grianan of Aileach, on a bleak hilltop above Derry. Since then, we had seen several more ring forts, in various states of disrepair and reconstruction. Ireland has thousands of these and while they share some common architectural themes, each of the ones we saw also had its own unique details.

The Cahergall Ring Fort outside of Cahersiveen was the largest, best restored, and most elegant we had visited. Plus the weather was nice. The stepped interior walls are a common feature, but here, where they climb a wall that is higher than the rest of the ring, they are particularly cool.

From here, we could see another ring fort higher up the hill as well as Ballycarbery Castle down towards the bay (next post). And Cahersiveen with its large church a little farther away. It makes for a wonderful mosaic of historic structures - some dating from very different centuries and millenia.