Moated site, Templeshelin, Co. Wexford
Co. Wexford |
Castle Features
Hidden within a small coniferous wood in Templeshelin, County Wexford, lies a curious medieval earthwork that has intrigued local historians for generations.
This square moated site, measuring approximately 31 metres on each side, sits quietly in the bottom of a shallow valley with a stream running about 20 metres to its east. First recorded on the 1839 Ordnance Survey map as a small wooded enclosure, it represents one of the many defensive settlements that once dotted the Irish countryside during the medieval period.
The site's most striking features are its substantial earthen banks and water-filled moats that would have provided both defence and drainage for whatever structure once stood within. The banks, ranging from 5 to 7 metres wide, rise between 1 and 1.5 metres on the interior side, whilst on the exterior they typically reach 1.8 to 2 metres in height; though impressively, the southern bank towers 3.4 metres above the stream below. These defensive earthworks are accompanied by flat-bottomed external moats on all sides, measuring 5.5 to 6.5 metres across at the top and reaching depths of 1.2 to 2 metres. The banks were cleverly augmented with spoil from the digging of an inner drainage system on all sides except the east, where the bank appears to have been removed at some point in the site's history.
What makes this site particularly interesting is how its builders manipulated the local water features to enhance its defences. The stream that runs through the valley was diverted into the southern moat, creating a water-filled barrier before continuing its journey southward from the south-western corner of the enclosure. Such moated sites were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers or wealthy Gaelic families between the 13th and 15th centuries, serving as fortified farmsteads that combined residential, agricultural and defensive functions. Though the wooden or stone structures that once stood within have long since vanished, these impressive earthworks remain as a testament to medieval engineering and the turbulent times that necessitated such elaborate defences.
