Castle - motte

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a prominent rise (146m/479ft OD), in gently undulating pasture, with excellent views in all directions except to NE and E where there is higher ground. Castle site (WM018-094----) lies c. 80m to E. Church (WM018-102002-) and graveyard (WM018-102001-) 180m to S. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a circular-shaped earthwork annotated ‘Rathconrath’. Depicted as a large steep-side mound enclosed by three banks on an estate map of Rathconrath dating from 1776 (NLI, MS 21 F. 48 (026) ).
Anglo-Norman motte castle described in 1980 as a large circular steep-sided, flat-topped mound (dims. 11m NE-SW; 9m NW-SE) enclosed by a wide flat-bottomed fosse, an intervening bank, an outer fosse and an external bank. The intervening bank is substantial with steep sides and is comprised of earth and stone. A gap at S is closed by a drystone wall and appears relatively modern. The wide and flat-bottomed outer fosse and substantial outer bank are visible from SW-N-SE, and are less well preserved from SW-W-NW. The top of the motte is level and is occupied by a television mast supported by wire stays which are anchored by metal bars driven into the top of the motte at the NNW, NE and SSW edge. There is no indication of a bailey. The monument appears to have been incorporated into field fences surrounding the site. Monument is visible as a roughly circular tree-planted earthwork on Digital Globe aerial photography.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 05 February 2019

References

NLI, MS 21 F. 48 (26) - National Library of Ireland, A map of lands at Ballinbeg Rathconrath and Simonstown... in the barony of Rathconrath and County of Westmeath. Names of tenants and acreage of holdings shown. Longfield Map Collection. Dublin.