What is recorded here

Castle, motte in Mountnugent Lower stands on a natural hillock at the south end of a ridge between two valleys, its flat top reaching about four metres above the surrounding grassland. For centuries a bonfire was lit there every St. John’s eve, sending light across the converging land and marking the mound as a place of notice, ceremony or warning. The steep sides, narrow terrace and broken bank suggest people shaped the hill rather than merely finding it, perhaps cutting a platform where flames could be seen from distant fields.

On top of a natural hillock, at the S end of a ridge between two converging valleys. Very good views in all directions. The site is very overgrown but the surrounding land is mostly reclaimed grassland. A flat-topped, steep-sided mound (H c. 4m; diam. at top c. 10-12m). Surrounding the mound is a terrace (Wth 4-5m) with the remains of a bank (Wth c. 3m; int. H c. 0.75m; ext. H 1.5m) intermittently about its circuit. Beyond the bank the land drops very steeply NW-SE to the floor of a small valley and SE-NW the land falls gently to a church (KK015-010001-) and graveyard (KK015-010002-) and holy well (KK015-009----). It seems likely that the mound has been largely scarped out of a natural hill by cutting the terrace and perhaps raising the centre a little. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 278), for centuries a bonfire was lit on the top of the mound every St. John’s eve. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 23 February 2016

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