Mound, Haggard, Co. Kilkenny
Co. Kilkenny |
Ritual/Ceremonial
In the townland of Haggard in County Kilkenny, there is a mound.
That spare description, a classified archaeological monument reduced to its barest noun, is very nearly all that can be said with confidence. It sits in the record as a recognised site, formally catalogued, yet almost entirely undescribed in the public domain.
The word "haggard" itself offers a small clue to the character of this landscape. In Irish rural usage, a haggard is an enclosure beside a farmyard where hay or grain was stored and stacked, a working agricultural space that has given its name to countless townlands across the country. That a mound should survive within or near such a setting is not unusual. Earthen mounds of various kinds dot the Irish countryside, and their origins vary considerably. Some are burial mounds from the Bronze Age or earlier, constructed over cremated remains or inhumations. Others are the remnants of motte and bailey castles, the raised earthwork platforms introduced by the Normans in the twelfth century as a quick and effective means of establishing military control. Still others are natural features that acquired ritual or practical significance over time. Without further investigation, the Haggard mound could belong to any of these categories, or to none of them in any straightforward way.