motte historical louth

Although the site is associated with the legendary hero CuChulainn, the present earthworks are a Norman motte and bailey built possibly by the de Verdons in the last 30 years of the 12th century. The walls of the square bailey are well preserved. The castle on top is a folly built by Patrick Byrne - a well-known pirate - in 1780, and as a wooden tower once crowned the motte, the tower gives some of what a motte with a tower must have originally looked like....

A good Norman motte with well-preserved bailey built on an easily fortifiable position on a slight promontory overlooking a plain. The hole on top of the mound is the result of excavations carried out in the 1860s when a stone lined passage leading nowhere was found below the top of the mound. A bronze axe of c. 1600 B.C. and a piece of bronze with a Viking inscription also came to light....