Castle - motte

The National Monuments Service's description

In the grounds of Castlecomer House, on elevated ground lying at the confluence of the Dinin River (also known as the river Deen), c. 120m to the W, with a tributary river, the Brokagh, immediately to the S, to the E of Castlecomer. Orpen (1909, 318-19) writes that, ‘From an entry in the Liber Primus of Kilkenny it appears that a castle of some sort was erected here prior to the year 1200, as it is said to have been burned in that year by the O’Brenans’. He goes on to add that, ‘just before the death of the younger William Marshal in 1231, he obtained a grant for forty days of his service due to the king to enable him “to fortify his castle of Cumbre [Castlecomer]”’ (ibid.). In 1295, Edward I gave the custody of the castle of Combre to Richard le Erecedekne [Archdeacon], to fight the enemies of the king’ (ibid.).
The monument is heavily overgrown with trees. Carrigan (1905, 157), describes it as being, ‘about 25ft. [7.62m] high, and flat at the top, where it is 60 [54.86m] yards long and 30 [27.43m] yards wide’. Orpen (1909, 319), states that the ‘original earthen defences, which we may presume once surrounded the mote, have been obliterated by public road and private avenue, and the mound itself is traversed by modern paths, and obscured by trees and shrubs’.
There is no visible trace of a stone medieval castle (KK005-033001-) on the top of the mound. There is a black and white photograph of the motte taken before it was obscured by trees (Ó Drisceoil 2018, 49, fig. 3) and also a photograph of stone wall-footings which were revealed when the motte was partially excavated in 1938 (Ó Drisceoil 2018, 50, fig. 4). The only upstanding building is an angled structure (KK005-033003-) at the NE end of the top of the motte, which is probably an outwork of the bastioned fort (KK005-104----) in the town, possibly dating to the early 17th century and this seems to be the ‘Castle (in Ruins)’ indicated on the 1899 revision of the 6-inch OS map (Farrelly, O'Reilly and Loughran 1993, 127; Ó Drisceoil 2018, 74-5). Built into the base of the motte at the NE is an icehouse associated with Castlecomer House c. 170m to the SW (Farrelly, O'Reilly and Loughran 1993, vol. 1, 127).

See attached:
KK005-033002-_01 Photograph in Ó Drisceoil 2018, 49, fig. 3 reproduced from Lyng, Castlecomer Connections, p. 323.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 18 January 2022

References

Farrelly, J., O'Reilly, B., and Loughran, A. 1993 Urban archaeological survey - county Kilkenny (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Orpen, G.H. 1909 Motes and Norman castles in Ossory. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 39, 313-42.

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

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2018 Excavation of a seventeenth century bastioned fort at High Street, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny. Old Kilkenny Review 70, 45-77.