Ecclesiastical enclosure in Greatwood

In woodland, indicated as a raised oval area (dims. c. 74m N-S; c. 52m E-W) on the 1899-1900 revision of the 6-inch OS map. The map shows the wood crisscrossed with trackways, including a wider main track running roughly E-W through the centre of the enclosure. Another track, running roughly NE-SW, skirts along the NW sector, and has subsequently become a public road. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 441), in Greatwood townland, 'there is a field called the Bawnakilleen, that is, the field of the Killeen or little church. Tradition states that there was an ancient church here, and that a small circular enclosure, like a rath, still remaining, marks the place in which it stood'. The enclosure is heavily overgrown with trees and scrub, surrounded by intensively planted woodland. The church (KK022-019001-) is not indicated on the 1st (1839) or revised (1899-1900) ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 24 May 2021

A local fairy fort (ringfort/rath); wider significance not recorded.