Staigue Fort

Staigue is a cashel about twenty-seven metres across with walls up to five and a half metres high and four metres thick at the base, built without mortar in a valley above Kenmare Bay. The masonry is the point: the stones are carefully fitted, the wall batters inward as it rises, and a system of ten flights of steps arranged in X patterns runs up the inner face to the wall walk. Dating is uncertain - somewhere between 300 and 900 AD is the usual range - and it was probably the residence of someone of considerable local standing rather than a purely defensive site. A ditch and bank surround it. The access lane is single-track for about four kilometres with passing places, and the fort stands on private farmland, with a small honesty box at the gate. The wall walk is unfenced and the steps are steep and irregular.

What's there

• The masonry - carefully fitted drystone, battered inward, up to 5.5 metres high.
• The X-pattern stairs - ten flights built into the inner wall face.
• The setting - a valley amphitheatre above Kenmare Bay.
• The bank and ditch - the outer earthwork around the cashel.

When to go

April to October. The lane is difficult in wet weather and impossible for large vehicles. Wall steps are slippery when wet and unfenced at the top.

Before you go

Four kilometres of single-track lane with few passing places. On private farmland with an honesty box - pay it. The wall steps are steep, irregular and unprotected. No facilities.

Nearby

Derrynane and Caherdaniel are west; Sneem is east on the Ring of Kerry.

Key facts