ballykinvarga

An exceptionally interesting though sadly defaced cashel, 1 mile north-east of Kilfenora. The ring-wall encloses an oval space 150 feet by 130 feet and survives to a height of 12 feet or so. Although incomplete it shows a fair standard of building work, incorporating unusually large blocks of stone in the construction of its lower courses. An abundance of easily quarried limestone accounts for the remarkable number of stone forts in the Burren (about 500 are known in the area of 100 square miles), indicating a sizeable Iron Age population here. Ballykinvarga has the rare feature, confined to three or four Irish forts, of an encircling chevaux de frise of sharp stones set upright in the ground and extending as a defensive ring for a distance of about 50 feet out from the cashel. Its one-time effectiveness against intruders can be readily appreciated by today's visitor, since to venture across it without due care is to risk a sprained ankle or grazed shin; how much more hazardous, then, must it have been for attackers advancing under a hail of missiles hurled by the occupants.