What is recorded here

Carrownagilty holds a D-shaped motte where a steep scarp replaces half the built bank, proving that people preferred to borrow mountain muscle rather than carry soil. The oval bailey beside it still shows a curving ramp and a drowned fence line, hinting that the castle did not vanish so much as it stopped being useful to the living. It stands on a narrow ridge above rough pasture, waiting for someone to admit that walls are not the same as strength.

In undulating rough pasture, on the NNW end of a narrow ridge taking advantage of steep natural slopes. The motte is a roughly D-shaped area enclosed by an earthen bank (int. H 0.3m; ext. H 1.55m) NE-NW, and defined NW-NE, on its straight side, by a steep scarp (H 3.8m; Wth 7m). The bank lies on top of a steep natural slope, which augments its height. The interior/summit (15m N-S; 14m E-W) is level and under grass. The bailey (SL028-014----) lies immediately to N and consists of a roughly oval area (37m N-S; 33m E-W) defined by an earthen bank (int. H 0.55m; ext. H 2.5m) with an external fosse (base Wth 2.4m), and a counterscarp bank (int. H 0.7m; ext. H 0.2m) which is evident NE-N. There is a possible entrance at SW where a curving ramp (Wth 4m) cuts through the bank. The interior surface of the bailey is gently undulating and under grass. The wall of an adjacent graveyard (SL028-013----) overlies the fosse SW-WNW. A moated site (SL028-016001-) lies c. 250m to E in the adjacent townland of Carrowmore. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008

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