Moated site

The National Monuments Service's description

In undulating terrain, c. 1.1km W of the River Nore, under tillage. In Kilferagh, an area c.10-12m N-S by 25m E-W was excavated during the archaeological excavations on the Cork-Dublin gas pipeline (1981-2) (Hurley 1987, 88-100). This area uncovered two roughly parallel ditches running NNW-SSE between 1- 2.5m apart, the wider W ditch (L c. 11m) curving slightly to the N and continuing beyond the edge of the excavation, while the other, to the E (L 0.9m), appears to terminate within the cutting. A corn-drying kiln (KK023-024002-) was located 3.9m W of the wider ditch with an associated yard and hearth. The scant remains of possible stone wall foundations c. 4m NW of the kiln suggested the presence of a house (KK023-024003-), while the N end of a structure (KK023-024004-), 1m SSE of the kiln, was tentatively interpreted as a barn (ibid. 89-93). Associated with the ditches and all the structures was medieval pottery of late 13th/early 14th-century date (ibid. 93-4). The settlement appears to have gone out of use by the late 14th or early 15th century when it was backfilled (ibid. 93).
The fill of the wider U-shaped ditch (overall Wth 2.4m; Wth at base 0.9m; D 1.1m) contained animal bones and a large oval ceramic platter dated to the late 13th/early 14th-century (ibid. 90, 94). The narrower ditch (Wth 1.05m; D 0.45m) may have simply functioned as a drain (ibid.). Though the area excavated was very limited, the presence of several structures in close proximity to the ditch suggested that the inner wider ditch may have been the fosse of, ‘an enclosed manorial farmstead’ or moated site (ibid. 96).

See attached:
KK023-024001-_01 Plan of excavation from Hurley 1987, Fig. 17.2

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 27 July 2021

References

Hurley, M.F. 1987 Kilferagh, Co. Kilkenny. In Cleary, R.M., Hurley, M.F. and Twohig, E.A.(eds), Excavations on the Cork-Dublin gas pipeline (1981-2), 88-100. Cork. Department of Archaeology, University College Cork.