Castle - motte and bailey

The National Monuments Service's description

In pastureland on a low but prominent ridge, orientated NW-SE, now overlooking the N4 – the main Dublin-Sligo road. Poorly drained land to the E and S may have provided a natural element of defence. This impressive motte and bailey may have been constructed sometime in the 1190s as part of the Anglo-Norman settlement of the Longford/Annaly region (O'Conor and De Meulemeester 2007, 83; Graham 1980, 52-3). It may incorporate an earlier pre-existing mound, the 6th-century seat of the kings of Teathbha (Dobbs 1938, 250). It represents the only upstanding remains of the medieval settlement (LF014-071----) at Lissardowlan. In medieval documents 'Incheleffer' also spelt 'Incheleder/Hincheleder' refers to the castle of Lissardowlan (Otway Ruthven 1968, 414; MacNiocaill 1977, 54 6). It was known in Irish as 'Ard-Abla' or 'Liss-ard-abhla' meaning 'fort of the hill of apple trees' (Orpen 1910, 224). In 1210-11 William le Petit paid £6. 10s. to strengthen the fortifications of Incheleffer (Davies and Quinn 1941, 25). In 1224 it was attacked by Hugh O'Conor and the garrison inside the castle was killed (ALC, vol. 1, 273). It consists of a high circular motte with an inner and outer crescent-shaped bailey to the SE.
The motte (H c. 9.5m; diam. at base c. 36m) is steep sided and flat topped (12.9m NE-SW; 11.2m NW-SE). An OS trigonometrical station was erected on it in the 19th century. It is encircled by a wide deep inner fosse (Wth 11.7m; D 1.45m) from ENE-S-SW, where it separates the motte from the inner bailey. Elsewhere this fosse has been largely infilled. In 1975 (SMR file) a bank and outer fosse were noted from W-N-NW, an outer bank from SW-W and, on the summit, the remains of a rectangular building. None of these features are visible at ground level. However, a large lump of masonry (1.35m NE-SW; 1.2m NW-SE; H 0.3-0.85m) close to the base of the fosse at SE may be part of this building or it may be part of the stone defences that were on the summit, or else the remains of a stone base for a wooden bridge across the fosse (O'Conor and De Meulemeester 2007, 78).
The inner bailey (c. 60m NE-SW; c. 26m NW-SE) is defined by a raised platform that is enclosed by an inner bank of earth and stone (Wth 7.6m; H 0.5m), with evidence of external stone-facing on the E side, an intervening wide, flat-bottomed, waterlogged fosse (Wth 13.3m), best preserved from to N-NE-E, a wide flat-topped outer bank (Wth 1.5m; H 0.8m) and an outer shallow fosse (Wth 0.6m; D 0.3m). A gap at SE accesses the outer bailey.
The outer bailey (c. 70 NE-SW; c. 40m NW-SE) is defined by an inner bank mainly reduced to a scarp (H 0.6 1.1m), an intervening shallow waterlogged fosse (Wth 5.7m; D 0.8-1.2m) and an outer bank (Wth 4.2m; H 0.8m) of post-medieval appearance. A causewayed entrance gap is visible at E. The fosse and outer bank have been levelled from SW-W-WNW. The ground level of the outer bailey is considerably lower than that of the inner one. It is also morphologically different from the inner bailey suggesting that it may be a secondary feature.
From NNE-NE-E the motte and both baileys are protected by a substantial inner bank of earth and stone (Wth 9m; H 0.8m) with an intervening, very wide, deep, waterlogged fosse (Wth 14.6m; D 3.7m), an outer bank (Wth 9.3m; H 2.2m) and an outer fosse (Wth 5.2m; D 0.9m). This feature is named ‘Rampart’ on the OS 6-inch maps.
To the SW the remains of cultivation ridges are probably the result of post-medieval ploughing (O'Conor and De Meulemeester 2007, 90). An Anglo-Norman castle (LF014-071002-) was built immediately to the N. (Westropp 1902, 712; Orpen 1910, 223 5; McNamee 1940c, 81; English 1971, 152)

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 26 March 2012