Castle - motte and bailey

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a high E-W ridge, which has been scarped to produce a large impressive site consisting of an oval mound (max. diam. of base 28-36m; at summit 11-12m, H 3.4-5.6m) with a roughly D-shaped bailey (max. dims c. 65m E-W, c. 55m N-S, H c. 6m) at the E side. The mound is well preserved from SW to NE but elsewhere it has been quarried in relatively recent times so that its original shape and size are uncertain. The S side has also been ploughed out so that the outline of the motte is not well defined. There is a berm at the N side of the mound on which are the remains of a bank that has been partly defaced by quarrying. To the N of the motte and bailey the ridge has been scarped as part of the defences.

A modern field fence and laneway have partly destroyed the E and S sides of the bailey escarpments which define the enclosure. The S side of the motte was mutilated by 'excavations' in the nineteenth century (Lefroy 1871, 471-502) and various artefacts were recovered, including a bronze axe and a bronze sword plate with a runic inscription, which translated reads 'Domnal Seals-head owned this sword'. During the course of these diggings a souterrain (LH015-012002-) was discovered. There are the remains of a rectangular enclosure defined by a low earthen bank (int. dims 11m E-W, 3.5m N-S, bank Wth 2.3m, max. H 0.9m) in the SW portion of the bailey, but it is probably of a much later date. (Wright 1758, bk I, 9, pls X, XI; Lefroy 1871, 471-502; O'Kelly and Morris 1905, 21-2)

This is a National Monument: No. 144.

The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

See the attached view from N

Date of upload: 17 July 2007

References

Wright, T. 1748 Louthiana: or an introduction to the antiquities of Ireland. London. Thomas Payne.

Lefroy, J.H. 1871 On a bronze object bearing a runic inscription found at Greenmount, Castlebellingham, Co Louth. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 12, 471-502.

O'Kelly, O.J. and Morris, H. (eds) 1905 Louthiana: ancient and modern. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society Journal, vol. 1, 2, 17-21.