Earthwork

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, situated atop steep gravel ridge running roughly N-S with good views in all directions. A large modern quarry lies immediately to S. Knockmant Castle (WM027-007001-) with deserted medieval settlement (WM020-116----) and Knockmant Church (WM020-009001-) and graveyard (WM020-009002-) 420m and 736m to SE respectively. Preservation Order No. 10/1983 was placed on the motte & bailey (WM020-115001-) and associated earthwork immediately SE of the bailey in 1983.
Enclosure which has since been quarried way was described in 1980 as following; The monument comprises of a small steep-sided subrectangular-shaped flat-topped motte with a subrectangular-shaped bailey at S. An old pathway or possible road runs from the causewayed entrance of the bailey to a D-shaped enclosure located to the SSE of the bailey area. This enclosure consists of a semi-circular or D-shaped shaped area defined by an earthen bank which is cut by a field boundary which forms the townland boundary running NE-SW. There are no remains of the enclosure on the SE side of this field boundary. The remains of an entrance gap into the enclosure are visible ay NE adjacent to the townland boundary. This entrance gap may be a later feature that is related to a modern farm track. A possible field system consisting of some low earthen banks are visible at the foot of the gravel ridge to the NE, E and W. Low field walls of a possible medieval field system are visible in the low-lying poorly drained rushy area to the NE. At the E edge of the earthwork complex there is a long double earthen bank with two intervening fosses which may represent the remains of a hollow way or sunken road. Later field banks run across this possible medieval roadway which has been quarried away at the W end.
This field system and its earthworks are no longer visible today on Digital Globe aerial photography in the fields to the NE of the motte and bailey which have since been reclaimed.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 11 July 2019