Castle - motte

The National Monuments Service's description

Midway down a gentle NE-facing slope, on the E bank of the River Nore, in an area of undulating pasture. There are fine views from W-N-SE, otherwise views are limited by rising ground. This may be the 12th/13th-century castle of Tullabarry mentioned by Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 87). A large pudding-bowl-shaped mound (diam. at base c. 50m; diam. at summit 19.4m N-S; H above fosse at SE c. 5.5m) composed of sand, gravel and water-rolled stones, enclosed by the remains of a fosse (max. Wth 4.5m; D below field level 1.8m) and counterscarp bank. It is overgrown with ivy, hawthorn and brambles and has been dug into on the SE face near the summit. The surface of the summit has been denuded and slopes gently along the W side, from S-N. The fosse is best preserved from SE-S-SW and has been infilled from NE-SE. An old mill stream flowing into the River Nore skirts the base of the mound from NW-N.

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 5/1983).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 8 May 2017

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.