Indicated — Great Island

Situated in a fold on the NE-facing slope of what was once the Great Island (dims c. 2.5km N-S; c. 800m E-W at S to 1.8km E-W at N) in the N-S River Barrow/Nore but the channel (Wth c. 500-600m) around the NE and E sides of the island is long silted up and reclaimed. The site of an early church and the parish church of Kilmokea (WX039-018002-) and the small D-shaped graveyard (WX039-0189006-) are within a large enclosure (dims. c. 330m N-S; c. 260m E-W) defined by an earthen bank best preserved (Wth 7m; ext. and int. H 2m) SW-W where it is separated by a berm (Wth 3-4m) from an outer fosse (Wth 10m; D 1.5m). There is a granite bullaun stone (WX039-018005-) in the base of this section of the fosse. Archaeological testing (02E0071) just inside the perimeter at E and c. 70m ENE of the graveyard and S of the E-W public road uncovered evidence of a ditch with an internal bank on the line of the enclosure, but further testing (07E0941) outside the line of the enclosure c. 120m to the ENE of the graveyard and N of the road produced no related material (Stafford 2010). Archaeological testing (10E0126) outside the W edge of the enclosure c. 225m W of the graveyard produced no related material (Stafford 2013). Archaeological monitoring (15E0412) in Area 1 of a gas pipe under the E-W road through the enclosure identified the fosse at W (Wth of top 4.4m; D 1.2m) where it was U-shaped and filled with orange subsoil and at the E where it was V-shaped (Wth of top 2.4m; D 1.4m) and cut through the shale bedrock. At the E it was backfilled with natural clay and broken bedrock and no dating material was recovered. Two pits (diam. 1.6m; D 1.2m: 1.4m; D 1.1m) and a section of paving (L 1.8m) were also recorded. (Sutton 2018; excavations.ie 2015:422) A small stream runs N through the enclosure from two small springs on the S side of an E-W public road. About a third of the interior is occupied by buildings or landscaped gardens and the rest is in pasture but the perimeter is either planted in forestry or hedges. A horizontal mill (WX039-018008-) was found beside the stream c. 1970, and Westropp (1918, 11) describes what might be a moated site (WX039-018011-) N of the road and W of the stream. A resistivity survey undertaken in 2014 (Flynn and Grennan 2016, 67-71) c. 100m W of the graveyard and N of the road recovered evidence of what might be a D-shaped enclosure (WX039-018012-). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 27 January, 2017 Amended: 19 October 2020