What is recorded here

Castle, motte in Dunbrin Lower is a damaged oval mound beside the River Barrow, marked by a low bank and flat fosse. Anglo-Norman pottery reached its summit, linking it across the water to Ardree and suggesting the floodplain once carried trade, guard duty or domestic life. Quarrying took part of the east and south, but the remaining rise still points to a place where people watched the river and claimed the land.

It is situated at the base of a gentle slope on the floodplains of the nearby River Barrow. A raised oval-shaped area (max. dims. c. 22m E-W, c. 25m N-S, H 4.8m at N), defined by a low bank (Wth c. 2.2m, ext. H c. 1.8m) at N and W and by a flat bottomed fosse (Wth c. 4.8m) at E and N. Motte partially destroyed at E and S by quarrying. Reference to a rath here (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 184). This site is directly opposite Ardree, Co. Kildare which Orpen states was a flourishing Anglo-Norman manor (1907, 249). He mentions that Anglo-Norman pottery was found on the summit of the motte. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

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