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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Castle - motte and bailey

Newtown Or Skirk, County Laois, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Castle - motte and bailey, Newtown Or Skirk, County Laois, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Newtown Or Skirk
County
Laois
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
NULL
Latest-edition OS map
Moat of Skirke
Coordinates
52.91352, -7.65988
SMR number
LA021-021002-

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Atop high ground with good views of undulating countryside, church (LA021- 010001-) and graveyard (LA021-010002-) immediately to the N. A flat-topped mound (diam. c. 13m, H 3m-3.5m) surrounded by a wide shallow fosse with a substantial bailey (int. dims. c. 50m N-S, c. 75m E-W) which is defined by a bank (Wth 8-9m, int. H c. 1m, ext. H 2.5m-3m) and external fosse (Wth c. 7m) except at N. Entrance at E. The site appears to have been a henge monument that was converted into a motte and bailey. Standing stone (LA021-021004-) within centre of henge (LA021-021001-) that was reused as a bailey for the adjoining motte. Reference to a mound here (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 316). This is a reference to the motte at Skirke.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Castle - motte and bailey in Laois All County Laois records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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