Castle - motte

The National Monuments Service's description

In gently rolling terrain, at the W end of Dungarvan village, S of the public road, in pasture. A tributary of the River Nore flows c. 600m SE of the village. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 417) mentions, ‘The great circular dun or “moat,” from which the first part of the name [of the village] is taken, is situated in Dungarvan village’.
A flat-topped steep-sided mound (diam. at summit 29.5m x 21.5m) overgrown with trees and scrub (Farrelly et al. 1993 field notes). The summit is defined by a slight bank (ibid.). The motte has been quarried into around the base in the W sector and a Marian grotto was built into the N side in 1954 (ibid.)The N side, which runs along the road, has been landscaped above a retaining stone wall. A possible curving bank c. 27m to the W may be the remains of an associated bailey or could be upcast around the edge of quarrying (ibid.).

See attached photographs:
KK024-068001-_01 Motte (Farrelly and O’Reilly, 7 July 1992)
KK024-068001-_02 Motte (Farrelly and O’Reilly, 7 July 1992)

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 27 April 2021

References

Farrelly, J., O'Reilly, B and Loughran, A. 1993 Urban archaeological survey - county Kilkenny. Unpublished field notes, including photographs, for report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

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 Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

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