Granard

Motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

is the remains of a

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

and

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

Granard Granard () is a town in the north of County Longford, Ireland, and has a traceable history going back to AD 236. It is situated just south of the boundary between the watersheds of the Shannon and the Erne, at the point where the N55 nationa ...

County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,6 ...

, Ireland.

Location

Granard Motte ( RMP LF010-080001) is located in the town of Granard, west of

Lough Kinale Lough Kinale () is a freshwater lake in the north midlands of Ireland. It is located on the borders of Counties Longford, Westmeath and Cavan. Lough Kinale forms part of the River Inny. The lake's inflow is from Lough Sheelin and the outflow is ...

, overlooking the Inny valley. At an altitude of it is the highest

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

in Ireland The earthworks lie about to the southwest of Granard town on an elevated site with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

History

Granard motte earthworks were built c. 1199 by a Norman knight, Richard de Tuit. It was erected upon and within a pre-existing hillfort (LF010-080002-), and has associations with a local branch of the Ó Fearghail clan (Farrell). It appears that it was intended as a frontier castle on the NW border of the Anglo-Norman lordship of Meath and designed to suppress the O'Reilly's of S Breffny. In 1210 King John stayed here during his campaign against Hugh de Lacy. The site later became known as Rath Granard. According to Bradley, it is the most likely location of the inauguration site of the O'Farrells (Bán). One prominent member of the family, Sean Ó Fearghail, Chief of Annaly, is believed to have died here immediately after his inauguration in 1475 and was interred at

Abbeylara Abbeylara () is a village in the easternmost portion of County Longford, Ireland, located about three kilometers east of Granard on the R396 regional road. Its name is derived from a monastery, the great Abbey of Lerha, founded in 1205 by ...

nearby. The relatively level summit ( in the NNW- SSE direction; in the

ENE Ene or ENE may refer to: Ene * Ene (name), a given name and surname * Ene, a type of hydrocarbon involved in the Ene reaction and the Thiol-ene reaction * -ene'', a suffix used in the names of certain organic compounds (alkenes) * Ene, Spanish ...

- WSW direction), is about above the level of the bailey and also holds an OS trigonometrical station. In 1932 a statue of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

was erected on top of the motte to mark the sesquimillennium of his mission to Ireland. Many myths are attached to the hollow within the motte: some say there is a castle concealed within it, or

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, or perhaps a grain store. In May 2017 the motte came to nationwide attention when a large hole, about a metre in diameter, was found dug into the side of the mound. The damage required a survey by the National Monuments Service and repairs by the Office of Public Works.

Description

The Motte is a great flat-topped, circular earthen mound, on top of which would have been a timber tower surrounded by a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

. Across the base was a U-shaped bailey: an enclosure surrounded by a palisade ditch. It is very strongly fortified except on the southern side, which seems to have been guarded solely by the deep trench on the summit. The sub circular mound is about in height with a deep fosse at the northeastern side and a D-shaped bailey on the southwest side. A grotto was built into the north side of the monument in 1925 in the course of which a large quantity of stone was removed (using explosives). From WSW-N-ENE the base of the motte is encircled by a wide, deep, steep-sided, rock-cut fosse (width: ; depth: ) with a wide, high, steep-sided external bank (width: ; height: ). The bailey is defined by the remains of an inner bank of earth and stone, a wide, deep, intervening fosse (width: ) and a wide, high outer bank (width: c. ; height: c. ). The fragmentary remains of a later castle are visible in the SE face of the motte. A medieval church and graveyard lie c. to the north.

Location

History

Description

References

Further reading