Castle - motte and bailey

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight rise overlooking a W-E section of the River Dee, which is c. 200m to the N. Only the motte has been represented on the maps, and it is described as Dawson’s Moat on the 1835 and 1907 editions of the OS 6-inch map. It was also known as Castle Guard, from the Gaelic Caiseal Guthard – the stone fort of the raised voice – situated on the River Nith, which was an ancient name for the River Dee. The valley of the Dee was here known as Glenn na mBodhur - the Valley of the Deaf - because the noise of the raised voices of armies engaged in battle in the vicinity could not be heard in it. The Seanchas Mór, or Great wisdom, a document supposedly prepared by St Patrick with the assistance of two bishops, three kings and three poets, was prepared at Tara but the Noifis, or Committee of Nine, held winter and spring sessions at Rath Guthaird (Petrie 1839, 76). The Noifis examined the ancient or natural laws of Ireland and found them to be compatible with the tenets of Christianity. Although this monument in its present form is a motte and bailey the stone facing noted at the base of the mound at WSW could be the outer face of a cashel wall, and the two outer banks recorded in the eighteenth century could indicate that the motte incorporates the site of a ringfort of high status. (Barry 1904)

The motte consists of a large flat-topped mound (diam. of top 18.5-21.5m; diam. of base 53m; H 11m) surrounded by a wide fosse (at S: Wth of top c. 9m; ext. D 1.5m), and from NE to SSW by a low outer bank. Wright (1748, bk I, pl. XVIII) illustrates two banks surrounding the motte but, although traces of them have been noted (Morris 1906, 38-9), there is now no definite evidence of these. Wright, in his plan, illustrates a double-walled octagonal feature (LH017-012002-) on the summit of the mound, which even then must have been reduced to the foundations as it is not shown in his oblique view. The plan also records a causeway crossing the two outer banks and the intervening fosse, and this leads directly to a ramp that goes up the SSE side of the motte (1748, bk I, pl. XVIII). The causeway is still visible as an earthen bank, but the ramp seems to be a relatively modern feature. The octagonal double wall may be a post-medieval fortification. It was thought locally to have been erected c. 1820 by a Dr. Blackhall although it is older, and it was removed subsequently by the parish priest (Barry 1904). The remains of a stone facing have been noted at the base of the motte at WSW, which may indicate that it is built over a cashel. McIvor (1959, 163) says that a wooden structure on the summit was burnt by Bruce in 1315, and Orpen (1908, 263) believed that it was the site of the first Pipard castle of 'Atherdee' that was built 1185-88. (Morris 1906, 38-9)

It has always been suspected that the slight knoll just N of the motte could be the site of a bailey and that further archaeological features might extend out from both the motte and the bailey. Archaeological testing (00E0318) by F. O’Carroll at least 45m from the mound and likely bailey S-W-N (excavations.ie 2000: 633) revealed numerous archaeological features at a distance from the mound. Further archaeological testing (00E0783) by the same archaeologist just to the NE of the motte provided evidence of further archaeological features on the slope down to the floor of the valley (excavations.ie 2000: 634). A gradiometer survey (22R0322) conducted S of the motte recorded evidence of an ENE-WSW ditch c. 40m from the motte which is unlikely to be the outer fosse illustrated by Wright but there were no other positively identified archaeological features in this area (Elliott 2022). Another gradiometer survey (22R0345), partly in the area N of the motte, recorded evidence of an arc of a fosse looping NW from the motte that would delineate a D-shaped bailey (dims c. 60m NW-SE; c. 55m NE-SW) attached to the motte, and an arc of a further smaller possible enclosure (diam. c. 25m) lay outside this to the N. (Elliott 2022a)

See the attached views: _1 from Wright 1848, bk 1, fig. XVIII; _2 from Elliott 2002a, fig. 7

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.

Elliott, I. 2022 Report on Archaeogeophysical Survey at Dawnsonsdemesne, Co. Louth. Licence: 22R0322, unpublished report, Irish Geophysical and Archaeological Surveys
Elliott, I. 2022a Report on Archaeogeophysical Survey at Dawnsonsdemesne, Co. Louth. Licence: 22R0345, unpublished report, Irish Geophysical and Archaeological Surveys
Morris, H. 1906 Louthiana: ancient and modern. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal, vol. 1, 3, 38-45.
Petrie, G. 1839 On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 18, 25-232.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 17 July 2007
Amended: 17 February 2023

References

Orpen, G.H. 1908 Mottes and Norman castles in County Louth. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 38, 241-69.

McIvor, D. 1959 Ardee Manor in A.D. 1336. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 14 (3), 160-64.

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

Barry, T. 1904 Castle Guard, Ardee. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society Journal, vol. 1, 1. 43-5.

O'Carroll, F. 2002 Castle Guard Motte, Dawson's Demesne, Ardee. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2000: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 208, No. 633. Bray. Wordwell.

Morris, H. 1905-07 Louthiana: ancient and modern. Mount Bagenal in Cooley. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society Journal, vol. 1, 2, 17-22; 3, 38-45; 4, 57-61.