Moated site, Ballydavid,Rathcunikeen, Co. Tipperary North

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Castle Features

Moated site, Ballydavid,Rathcunikeen, Co. Tipperary North

The moated site at Ballydavid in Rathcunikeen, North Tipperary, sits on flat pastureland that offers unobstructed views across the surrounding countryside.

This medieval earthwork consists of a rectangular enclosure surrounded by a substantial bank made of earth and stone, measuring three metres wide and standing one metre high on the inside, rising to 1.8 metres on the exterior. Beyond this impressive bank lies a broad, flat-bottomed fosse or defensive ditch, approximately 2.65 metres wide and 0.85 metres deep, which would have provided additional protection to whatever structures once stood within.

Today, the site presents something of a challenge to visitors and archaeologists alike. Dense vegetation has taken over the interior, making it difficult to conduct detailed examinations or determine what buildings might have occupied the enclosed space. The wider landscape has also changed considerably since medieval times; a nineteenth-century coniferous plantation now dominates the area around the monument, as shown on historical Ordnance Survey maps from that period.

Moated sites like this one were typically constructed between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, often serving as fortified farmsteads for Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous Irish families. The substantial earthworks at Ballydavid suggest this was once home to someone of considerable means, though without excavation, the exact nature of the settlement remains a mystery hidden beneath centuries of overgrowth.

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