Moated site, Ballinure, Co. Tipperary South

Co. Tipperary |

Castle Features

Moated site, Ballinure, Co. Tipperary South

In the tillage fields near Ballinure, County Tipperary, the remains of a rectangular earthwork sit on a southeast-facing slope of a low ridge.

This curious enclosure, which dates back centuries, offers good views across the surrounding undulating countryside. What survives today is the southern half of the original structure, consisting of a rectangular area measuring approximately 21 metres north to south and 29 metres east to west. The earth and stone bank that forms its perimeter stands nearly a metre high on the outside, though it's considerably lower on the interior, with a base width of 3.5 metres tapering to 1.8 metres at the top.

The enclosure is visible from the northeast round to the northwest, though the northern section has been levelled over time. Initially, one might assume this to be a moated site, given its enclosed nature, but several features suggest otherwise. The structure lacks the rounded corners typically found in moated sites, and crucially, there's no evidence of either a wet or dry moat surrounding it. Its position on a slope rather than level ground also sets it apart from typical moated enclosures of medieval Ireland.

The site appears on the first Ordnance Survey six-inch map from 1840, depicted as a small rectangular enclosure, indicating it was already a notable landscape feature by that time. A field boundary that once intersected the western side of the monument has since been removed, leaving the earthwork more isolated in its field setting. While its exact purpose remains unclear, the substantial nature of the banking and its prominent position suggest it held some significance for the community that constructed it, whether as a defensive structure, an agricultural enclosure, or perhaps serving some other function in the medieval or early modern landscape of South Tipperary.

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