Moated site, Drumcomoge, Co. Tipperary South
Co. Tipperary |
Castle Features
Hidden in the gently rolling pastures of Drumcomoge, County Tipperary, lies a rectangular earthwork that tells a story of medieval Ireland.
This moated site, measuring approximately 30 metres northeast to southwest and 25 metres northwest to southeast, remains invisible to the casual observer walking across the fields. Though it leaves no trace at ground level, aerial photography has revealed its distinctive rectangular outline, captured in historical survey photograph Bruff No 5/2096.
The site's absence from any edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps adds to its mysterious character. These comprehensive Victorian-era maps, which documented Ireland's landscape in meticulous detail, somehow overlooked this particular feature. It's only through modern aerial survey techniques that we can appreciate the full extent of what once stood here; a fortified homestead surrounded by a water-filled moat, typical of Anglo-Norman settlement patterns in medieval Ireland.
Moated sites like this one were particularly common in the 13th and 14th centuries, serving as defended farmsteads for colonising families who needed protection whilst establishing themselves in new territories. The rectangular shape suggests this was likely a platform surrounded by a wet ditch, which would have supported a timber hall and associated buildings. Today, centuries of ploughing and natural processes have flattened the earthworks, leaving only subtle soil marks that betray its presence from above, preserving a glimpse of medieval life in the Tipperary countryside.