Embanked enclosure — Courthoyle Old

Marked as an oval embanked enclosure (ext. dims. c. 90m E-W; c. 70m N-S) impinged on by farm buildings at the W and S and with the tower house (WX035-014001-) on the perimeter at S on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. It is situated on a gentle W-facing slope at the W foothills of Carrickbyrne Hill. There is no evidence of an enclosure at a developed farm complex, but it is described locally as a low earthen bank (Wth c. 2m; H c. 0.5m) that survived until c. 1970 when a possible souterrain was found running NE from the tower house. This is described as a passage in which a person could crouch, but it may have been a drain. The enclosure may have been a ring-work as the ‘house of Hoyle of Karrothobren (Carrickbyrne)’ is mentioned in a description of the boundary of Ross wood in a charter of Richard Marshal dated 1232-3 (Orpen 1934, 55). The Howel family were in Ireland since at least 1180 and held Carrickbyrne by half a knight’s fee into the 15th century (Brooks 1950, 100-01). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 15 October, 2012