Moated site, Shankill, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Castle Features

Moated site, Shankill, Co. Kilkenny

On a broad terrace along the north side of a valley that runs northeast to southwest, the remains of what was once a substantial medieval moated site lie hidden beneath the modern landscape of Shankill, County Kilkenny.

The site occupies an elevated position with hills rising sharply to the northwest, offering expansive views across the valley to the northeast and southwest. Today, a working farm and its outbuildings cover the northern portion of where this ancient enclosure once stood, and nothing of the original earthworks remains visible at ground level.

Historical maps reveal the monument's former glory; the first Ordnance Survey map from 1840 clearly shows a large sub-rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 90 metres north to south and 80 metres east to west, with its eastern side tapering slightly. A small farmyard was depicted just outside the northwest corner of the enclosure. By the time of the 1900 revision, however, the enclosure had vanished from the maps, indicating that the earthworks were levelled sometime during the latter half of the 19th century as agricultural improvements swept across the Irish landscape.

The site was identified as a moated enclosure by historian Barry in 1977, based solely on the cartographic evidence from these early maps. Moated sites like this one were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries by Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous Irish families, serving as defended homesteads with water-filled ditches providing both protection and status. Whilst the physical monument has been lost to time and agricultural development, its presence on the 1840 map provides valuable evidence of medieval settlement patterns in this part of Kilkenny.

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