Castle — motte in Grove (shillelogher By.)

On level ground in gently undulating terrain, under grass. View impeded to E and W by rising ground, elsewhere fair to good, though impeded by hedgerow and by forestry to S. The northern section of a meandering stream, visible on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map, and which is immediately N and W of the monument, was subsequently straightened. The former medieval parish church of Tullaghanbrogue (KK023-030001-) (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 385-6), is located c. 200m to the W and there are numerous earthworks (KK023-031001-) immediately E of the mound, including a small moated site (KK023-031004-) and a large enclosure (KK023-031005-). Orpen (1909, 333) associates this mound with the manor of Tullaghanbrogue, and states that, ‘William de St. Leger also held the manor of Tullaghanbrogue, with which the St. Legers were connected up to Cromwellian times. What I take to be the Norman earthwork here, however, belongs rather to the bretage that to the mote type’. He goes on to say that this, and similar manors in the central part of Ossory, were probably the latest part settled by the Anglo-Normans (ibid.). The Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Sheelogher, ‘Sheelelogher’ (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin), indicates what appears to be a ruined castle (KK023-093----) to the E of a medieval church (KK023-030001-) in Tullohaune townland which equates with the modern townland of Grove. The castle, which is not visible at ground level, probably occupied this castle mound. An oval, roughly level flat-topped mound (dims. at top 17.6m N-S; 12.05m E-W; basal dims. 29m N-S; 24.9m E-W; H 1.67m) surrounded by a very wide flat-bottomed fosse (Wth 4.3-6.2m) and outer bank (int. H 0.71-0.93m; ext. H 0.84m; Wth at top 4.3m; overall Wth 8.6m). The mound is quite steep sided, despite the gradual slope. On the top of the mound there is a low raised area (dims. 5m N-S; 6.2m E-W; H 0.24m) in the SE sector. There is no outer bank in the SSE for a length of 8.3m. Along the E side, the fosse is defined by the raised scarp of the earthworks to the E. In the NE sector the fosse is connected to another fosse which runs NE-SW. The outer bank in the N sector is very flattened with external field drainage to the NW. The slope on the N side of the mound is heavily overgrown with brambles and hawthorn. There is similar growth in the SE sector, where the slope has been slightly quarried into. Though not a classic pudding-bowl shaped motte, this mound appears to be the castle-mound of this settlement and as such has been classified as a motte. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 21 March 2017