Barrow - stepped barrow

The National Monuments Service's description

In improved, gently undulating pasture and 115m E of the Reask River which also forms a townland boundary with Coolnapisha. Depicted on the 1897 ed. OS 25-inch map as a roughly circular-shaped earthwork (overall 40m E-W; 37m N-S). Described by O’Dwyer (1959, 77) as a platform (int. diam. 70ft/21.3m; overall diam. 135ft/41m) defined by a broad berm (Wth 27ft/8.2m) and a shallow fosse. Possible stepped barrow surveyed by the ASI in 2008 and described as an oval-shaped area covered in impenetrable overgrowth. Where visible, the raised area appears to be defined by a scarp (Wth 3.0m; H 1.15m), an intervening berm (Wth 6.0m; H 0.3m) and an outer scarp (Wth 2.1m; H 0.35m). An outer fosse (overall Wth 5.0m; basal Wth 1.4m; D 0.25m) is evident from NW-N-NE may have been widened by a natural water course and is now used as a drive line. There are possible traces of an outer bank (Wth 4.8m; int. H 0.25m; ext. H 0.2m) NE-ENE. Monument is truncated by a field boundary running E-W across the extreme S arc. Monument is visible as a roughly oval-shaped tree-planted earthwork on OSi orthoimage taken 2005-2012, on Digital Globe orthoimage taken 2011-2013 and on Google Earth orthoimage taken 28/06/2018.

See attached a profile of monument drawn by O’Dwyer in 1959, a sketch plan and partial cross-section which was measured and drawn by the ASI in 2008 and a Google Earth orthoimage taken 28/06/2018.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 27 September 2020

References

O'Dwyer, M. 1958-61 A survey of the earthworks in Old Pallasgrean, Co. Limerick. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 8, 69-78, 111-15.