Castle — motte and bailey in Moat (longford By.)

On a rise in undulating grassland, c. 50m to the NE of the Kilcrow River. On inspection in July 1983 this motte and bailey was defined by the remains of an originally circular steep-sided flat-topped motte (diam. 16.4m) which survived to its original height (H 2.4m) from N to E but was quarried out at S and W. According to local information, the quarry was opened in 1926. At SE a low earthen bank (Wth 3.5m; int. H 0.7m; ext. H 1m) and fosse (Wth 1.7m; D 0.2m) separated the motte from the bailey. There was a gap (Wth 1.5m) in the bank but there was no corresponding causeway across the fosse and it was unclear whether these were original or later features. The bailey was probably originally oval in plan and had been partially levelled by the construction of a road across it from NW to SE; no visible surface trace of it survived to the N of the road. The remaining section consisted of a roughly D-shaped platform (27.3m NW-SE; 18.2m NE-SW; H 3.2m) defined by a scarp. Traces of lazy beds, running NE-SW, were visible in the otherwise flat and featureless interior. Current OSi aerial imagery indicates that the remaining section of the motte has been levelled. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 10 December 2019