Mote, Oldcastle, Co. Galway

This motte and bailey fortification consists of a circular mound rising 4.45 metres high, its steep sides supporting a flat summit that spans 31 metres across. The mound, now heavily overgrown with vegetation, is constructed from earth and stone and surrounded by a deep fosse, 3.2 metres wide, with an outer defensive bank that curves from the northeast through south to the northwest.

According to the antiquarian George Orpen, who documented the site in 1916, this fortification was likely built by Gilbert de Angulo or one of his feudal tenants around the end of the 12th century, during the Anglo-Norman colonisation of Connacht. The bailey, which extended 41 metres northward from the motte, narrowed from about 20 metres wide at its northern end and was defined by a defensive scarp. Orpen's original survey recorded several features within the complex, including a circular building and possible enclosures at the northwest end of the bailey, as well as another enclosure east of the motte.

Today, while the main earthworks remain clearly visible in the landscape, the more subtle features Orpen documented have largely disappeared from view. Only a slight rise in ground level now indicates where the bailey once stood, though the imposing motte continues to dominate this quiet corner of County Galway, a substantial reminder of the medieval power struggles that once shaped this region.