*Inch Ringfort.
INCH RINGFORT is one of eight historic sites in Ireland to have been selected in the Heritage Council’s adopt a monument programme.
Eight historic monuments from across Ireland will benefit from the scheme this year. Inch Ringfort’s inclusion means its community group will have direct access to expertise, mentoring and support to help them protect the ring fort for future generations and promote their local heritage.
Located beside Inch National School, the ringfort is viewed as having enormous potential to engage school children with the past. The ringfort is currently overgrown and inaccessible but Inch Tidy Village in partnership with Inch NS are keen to make the site accessible for school children and the wider community to create a better understanding of its history and ecology.
Already this year, the project has received funding under the Community Monument Fund. The aim is to make the Inch site accessible for the purposes of site conservation, community access, and as a heritage and local history project for the local school children.
Following a call for applications in March 2025, a large number of community groups applied to adopt a monument in their locality. The eight sites were chosen following a selection process that also involved the National Monuments Service, The Heritage Council, The Discovery Programme, a community archaeologist, and Abarta Heritage.
Chosen alongside Inch Ringfort this year are Glenkeen Church and Graveyard (Tipperary), Donoughmore Church and Graveyard (Cork), Ballyboro Tower House, Castleboro Demesne (Wexford), Kilbride Church and Graveyard (Leitrim), Doonane Sweat House (Tipperary), Annagelliffe Church and Graveyard (Cavan),
Kilshannig Church and Graveyard (Kerry).
Previous adopt a monument sites chosen by The Heritage Council in Clare include Kilkerrin Battery Fort in Labasheeda and Kilmurry Lime Kiln which were both selected in 2019.
Keir McNamara who is involved with Inch Tidy Village explained, “The project will be carried out in phases where in phase one vegetation will be cleared to make the site accessible. The National Monuments Services have been notified of the proposed works and a qualified and experienced archaeologist will be employed to supervise and report on the proposed works and to develop on the next phase of the project”.
He added, “The monument in question is a uni-vallate, earthen ringfort which was once the homestead of a local farming group and of a type common in the locality. It was probably built in the early centuries AD and inhabited up to the mediaeval period. It consists of a sub-circular earth work of c.24m, the bank of which remains no higher than 0.5m. The interior of the fort appears level and is very densely overgrown to the extent that access is not possible.
Inch Tidy Village wish to manage the site for education purposes and in a sensitive way to ensure its future preservation. The monument is on public land and the aim in the future is to make it visually and physically accessible to the public with interpretation to showcase its historical and heritage value for all. Working with Clare County Council the group have researched similar projects in Borrisokane and Baltimore which have significant public recognition and interaction, and which they hope to learn from.
