Barrow — bowl-barrow in Moyvoughly

Situated in low-lying gently undulating pasture. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a tree-lined oval-shaped tree-lined earthwork (approx. dims. 54m N-S; 47m E-W). A barrow (WM030-022----) lies c. 90m to NW. Monument described in 1973 as the remains of a roughly oval-shaped earthwork which is enclosed by a bank from SW-W-NW. There is no definite indication of a bank elsewhere. The interior is very uneven with stones and boulders projecting from the surface. The earthwork is divided into three parts by modern field banks and fences. Monument is clearly visible today on Digital Globe aerial photography as consisting of a central mound (approx. diam. 8m) enclosed by a possible fosse and external bank (overall ext. diam. 44m). Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien. Date of upload: 08 November 2019 Surveyed in 2013 and described by McGuinness (2014, 54-5) as following: 'Large, roughly subcircular monument (Diam. 47.5m N-S) comprising a subcircular central mound (Diam. 10.2m N-S x 13.2m E-W) surrounded at a considerable distance by a bank, giving the impression of a broad, shallow ‘ditch’ in between. SE stretch of bank appears to have been removed, precluding a measurement of the E-W diameter of the monument. Although on undulating ground, monument is level when viewed from a distance. Where highest on NW side, central mound rises up to 1.55m above area between mound and bank; it has irregular upper surface, perhaps damaged by cattle but with exposed blocks of limestone visible in places. Other limestone blocks have been incorporated in the outer bank, which is really only a clear bank on the S side, where it reaches up to 3.5m in width and up to 0.45m in height above the interior, being more like a step elsewhere—that is to say the broad level area surrounding the mound simply drops down to external ground level, especially on the N side where the ‘step’ is up to 1.45m high and the ‘bank’ has no clearly defined inner edge. There may be a true ditch immediately inside the bank, giving the overall monument the appearance of a Wessex disc-barrow or of a hengiform ditched enclosure with central mound, but this is by no means certain. Immediately W of monument is a stretch of a second earthen bank, apparently not part of the barrow but running almost tangentially to it and swerving off to NW. Monument is located in low-lying pastureland with higher ground to S; local landowner pointed out that major drainage operations had taken place here over the years, such that large parts were previously marshy or fully flooded, immediately to NE and E of the barrow. Possible Second Barrow (WM030-022----): Less than 150m NNW of monument just described, is another feature which on the surface could be interpreted as a barrow. This greatly damaged monument is preserved only on N side of E-W running field fence, S side of monument apparently having been removed. Although remaining part of monument is by no means regular in appearance or easily classifiable, it appears to comprise an irregular-shaped mound incorporating blocks of limestone and rising to its highest point on E side. This mound appears to be delimited on E and W halves by a bank, but bank on the W side is on markedly higher ground than that on E, being not much lower than the mound itself. It is not certain that the western stretch of ‘bank’ is indeed a bank and it does not obviously join up with the much better defined eastern stretch; if it is accepted that the two banks join up to form one half of the perimeter of the monument, its maximum visible diameter from E to W is 46.5m. There appears to be a slight inner ditch associated with both E and W stretches of bank. On E side, where bank is much more low-lying than on W side, the central mound rises 1.95m above the ‘ditch’ on inside of bank. On E side, bank is 4m in width; on W side it is 2.6m in width. Although this is unclear, eastern stretch of bank appears to veer off to N, running towards the rushy, reedy area close by; if this is so, it would clearly not join up with the western stretch. The aerial photograph of the genuine barrow in Moyvoughly on the ASI website, which takes in the present monument, suggests that the impression of an outer ‘bank’ of unusual form, and by implication the monument as a whole, may be the accidental result of the intersection of snaking natural escarpments and man-made banks. Though possibly a barrow, this monument must be treated with serious doubt. Monument is located in undulating, partly drained pastureland. Immediately to N of monument is a narrow band of low-lying grassland adjoining a rushy area 23m to N of barrow that may formerly have been a lake; part of the ‘lakeshore’ appears to be delimited by a bank of uncertain origin. In this area of grassland just NW of barrow and between it and the ‘lake’ is a small oval or subrectangular earthwork possibly representing a hutsite'. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness.