Structure, Garraun, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Utility Structures
A rectangular platform sitting quietly in improved pasture on a west-facing slope in County Tipperary is not, at first glance, the sort of thing that demands attention.
Yet what survives here is a structure tucked within the north-east quadrant of a moated site, and the earthworks that define it are surprisingly legible for something that has been farmed around for centuries. The platform measures roughly twenty metres east to west and eighteen metres north to south, its edges held by scarps of varying width and height, the most substantial of which, on the eastern and southern sides, rises to about three-quarters of a metre. A fosse, the ditch-like depression that would originally have reinforced the boundary, runs along parts of the western and northern edges, though it appears to have been backfilled in places over time.
Moated sites are a recognisable feature of the medieval Irish landscape, typically consisting of a raised or enclosed platform surrounded by a water-filled or wet ditch, and they are generally associated with rural settlement of the Anglo-Norman period, from the late twelfth century onwards. The structure at Garraun sits within one such moated complex, and the outer bank visible at the west end of the northern side appears to belong to the wider moated enclosure rather than to the internal platform alone. A low linear rise oriented north-east to south-west, defined by a slight depression on either side, lies only about four metres to the north-north-west of the main area, suggesting the immediate landscape contains further features not yet fully accounted for. Inside the platform itself, the ground slopes gently westward under grass cover, and a concrete tank nearly five metres in diameter, now backfilled with earthen material, sits roughly mid-way along the southern side, a reminder that agricultural use has continued here long after the medieval period ended.