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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ecclesiastical enclosure

Toureen, County Tipperary South, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ecclesiastical enclosure, Toureen, County Tipperary South, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Toureen
County
Tipperary South
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
52.40856, -7.99318
SMR number
TS075-023007-

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1882 · Ireland (southern half). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1904 · Sheet 13. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 200m) identified by Manning (1991, 209). A curving field boundary SW of St Peakaun's church (TS075-023001-), on top of the ridge which rises steeply immediately W of the church, incorporates the broad flat bank (Wth c. 3m; int. H 0.18m; ext. H 1.55m); wide, deep, flat-bottomed fosse (Wth at base 2.85m; D 1.4m) and counterscarp (Wth 1m; H 0.09m) of the original enclosure. The stoney counterscarp bank is incorporated in hedgerow. The enclosure descends with the natural ridge towards the S quadrant and for some distance in the S quadrant. Peakaun's stream runs roughly N-S, E of centre, through the enclosure. E of the stream the line of the enclosure becomes evident as a ledge (Wth 2.6-3m; D 2.23m) cut into the natural slope of a ridge. This ledge peters out with the ridge towards the E field boundary which has a large hollow on the W side. There is no visible trace of the enclosure to N and NE where the ground is low-lying and wet. Excavation in 2005 revealed that the N quadrant had been enclosed by an internal fosse (Wth c. 1m); bank and external fosse (Wth c. 2m), the bank had been levelled by ploughing (Ó Carragáin 2008, 358-9 (1469)). The limit of the enclosure in the NE quadrant is not visible above ground, however, excavation in 2006 revealed that it had been defined by a substantial palisade and an external stream (Ó Carragáin 2009, 516 (1929)). Radiocarbon dates suggest that the palisade was built in the late 7th to the first half of the 8th century, probably during or soon after the lifetime of the founder, Beccán, who died in 689 (ibid.).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 24 March 2014

References

Manning, C. 1991 Toureen Peakaun: Three new inscribed slabs. Tipperary Historical Journal, 208-14.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Ecclesiastical enclosure in Tipperary South All County Tipperary South records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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