Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

On flat level grassland with good views in all directions. Poorly preserved remains of a circular area (int. diam. 26m NW-SE; 20m NE-SW) enclosed by an earth and stone bank (top Wth 2.5m; base Wth 4m; int. 1m; ext. H 1m), inner fosse (base Wth 2.5m; top Wth 5m; ext. D 0.7m) and outer bank (top Wth 2m; base Wth 3.5m; ext. H 0.5m) only visible from NW through N to E elsewhere the inner bank has been reduced to a scarp and the fosse and outer bank are destroyed. A modern roadway up to Clonamondra Cottage intersects site at S on a NW-SE axis destroying the outer bank and fosse along this side. There is the spoil heap of a quarry in the S quadrant of the enclosure. There is no clear entrance feature visible, modern gap in bank at SE (Wth 5m). The wall-footings of long rectangular building (TS049-003---) run NW-SE off the inner face of the bank at NW. These could be the wall-footings of an early medieval hall or a later fortified house with the enclosure acting as a bailey or bawn. The mounument is depicted on the OS 6-inch map as a mound enclosed by a fosse. Some years ago some bulldozing was carried out at the site, this mound may have been the grassed over remains of collapsed rubble from the rectangularl building, the wall-footings of which survived the partial land clearance.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 30 May 2012