Moated site

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle W-facing slope in pastureland. Depicted on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map as a roughly subcircular enclosure indicated by a broken line. A roofed house, aligned NW-SW, occupied its NW quadrant. On the 1933 edition of the map it is shown as a hachured square enclosure with an unroofed building in the interior. It consists of a moated site (34m N-S; 34m E-W), in fair condition, defined by an inner bank (Wth 3m; int. H 1m; ext. H 1.5m), intervening fosse (Wth 2-3m) and outer bank (Wth 3m; int. H 1m; ext. H 0.3m). Both banks are overgrown with trees and bushes and a modern field wall overlies the outer bank at SE. There is a causewayed entrance gap (Wth 2m) at NE. Within the interior at NW lie three sunken rectangular structures (average L 8m; Wth 4m) defined by mortared stone walls and foundation lines. One of these may be the building shown on the OS 6-inch maps. A modern tree plantation in the centre is enclosed by a drystone wall. A rectangular enclosure or annexe (18m NW-SE; 8m NE-SW) defined by a low grassed-over bank abuts the SW side of the outer bank. A shallow fosse (L 20m; Wth 2m) running WSW from the S corner of the monument may be a leat. No visible surface trace was visible of a rectangular area, defined by a bank of earth and stone, that was noted by Cody (1989, 324-7, no. 143) in the S corner of the interior or the pathway leading out from the entrance gap that ran in a NE direction (L 18m) before turning N (L 30m) and then NW for a short distance. The latter may have been levelled when the sports field now occupying this area was constructed.

Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG

Date of upload: 3 December 2019