Bawn in Pitchfordstown

On a low pasture rise surrounded by lower, poor, wet ground to W, N and E. A very large and fairly well-preserved trapezoidal area (dims. L c. 330m NW-SE; Wth c. 260m along NW side; Wth c. 320m along SE side) is defined by an intermittent, low, inner earthen bank (Wth 1-3m; int H 0.2-0.4m; ext H 1.5-2m), and an outer fosse which is recut as a drain (Wth 2-3m; av. D 1m). The enclosure was defended by D-shaped corner bastions, the straight sides of which back onto the interior (int. diams. 7-10m; straight side L 12-16.5m), three of which survive. The fourth, at the S corner, is shown on the 1st. ed. (1838) of the OS 6-inch map as being partially destroyed by a road, and by the date of the current OS 6-inch map (1939) it was overlain by a driveway. The interior is sub-divided roughly equally into four fields by hedged earthen banks, and the NW-SE bank follows the line of a tree-lined avenue which is indicated on Taylor's 1783 map of County Kildare and which also shows the site as a tree-lined sub-rectangular area. The avenue is still traceable as two parallel field banks to the NW of the site. May have been a plantation bawn. (Cullen and O'Keefe 1996, 215-7). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011