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Niall MacMahon.1

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This was probably the "Fairy Mount" at Louth, of which a plan is given in Wright's Louthiana. This plan shows "the old town trench," starting from opposite sides of the motte, so that the castle stood on the line of the town banks. The motte was ditched and banked round, but the plan does not show any bailey or any entrance.

*LOSKE (Cai., i., 30).—Mr Orpen has pointed out to the writer that this cannot be Lusk, which was a castle of the Archbishop of Dublin, while Loske belonged to Theobald Walter, and is not yet identified.

*LOXHINDY (Cal., i., 95).—Mr Orpen identifies this name with Loughsendy, or Ballymore Loughsendy, Westmeath, where there is a motte."

NAAS, Kildare (Gir., v., 100).—The dun of Naas is mentioned in the Book of Rights, p. 251, and in the Tripartite Life of St Patrick. By the Dindsenchas it is attributed to the lengendary Princess Tuiltinn in 277 A.D. On this "evidence" the motte at Naas has been classed as prehistoric. But as we have seen, a dun does not mean a motte, or even a hill, but an enclosure. Naas was part of the share which fell to the famous Anglo-Norman leader, Maurice FitzGerald, and the earthworks are quite of the Norman pattern; a good motte, ditched and banked, with trace of a small bailey attached. The terrace round the flank of the motte may be no older than the modern buildings on the summit. [B. T. S.]

3

1 Orpen, "Motes and Norman Castles in County Louth," Journ. R. S. A. I., xxxviii., 241, from which paper the notice above is largely taken. 2 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 242.

3 The castle is casually mentioned by Giraldus, v., 100, and the date of its erection is not given.

As far as the writer's experience goes, terraces are only found on mottes which have at some time been incorporated in private gardens or grounds.

NAVAN, Meath.-The Song says Navan was given to Jocelin de Nangle, and it is known that the castle of the Nangles was at Navan. A lofty motte, with a very small semilunar platform below, formed by broadening out a part of the counterscarp bank of the ditch. (Compare Kilbixie.) [B. T. S.]

NOBBER, Meath (Cal., i., 104).-A castle of Hugh de Lacy. A motte, with traces of a breastwork round the top, and wing banks running down to what remains of the bailey on the S. Two curious little terraces on the N. side of the motte. No masonry. [B. T. S.]

RATH' (Cal., i., 95).—This castle, evidently one of the most important in Ulster, but hitherto unidentified, has been shown by Mr Orpen to be the famous castle of Dundrum, Down.' This castle is situated on a natural motte of rock, no doubt scarped by art, with a deep ditch cut through the rock, and a bailey attached. The top of the motte contains a small ward fortified in stone, and a round keep. It is very doubtful whether this keep is as old as the time of John de Courcy, to whom the castle is popularly attributed; for the round keep without buttresses hardly appears in England before the reign of Henry III. [E. S. A.]

RATHWIRE, Meath.-Rathwire was the portion of Robert de Lacy (Song, 3150), and a castle was built here by Hugh de Lacy. There is a motte and bailey, with considerable remains of foundations in the bailey, and one wing bank going up the motte. [B. T. S.]

*RATOUTH, Meath, now RATOATHI (Cal., i., 110).—A castle of Hugh de Lacy. There is “a conspicuous mount" near the church, about which there is a legend

1 Journ. R. S. A. I., vol. xxxix., 1909.

2 Piers, Collect. de Rebus Hib., cited by Orpen.

ROKEREL-SLANE

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that Malachy, first king of all Ireland, held a convention of states (Lewis). It is marked in the map.

*ROKEREL (Cal., i., 81).—Unidentified.

ROSCREA, Tipperary (Cal., i., 81).-A motte and bretasche were built here in King John's reign, as is recorded in an inquisition of 29 Henry III. (Cal., i., 412). There is no motte now at Roscrea, but an Edwardian castle with mural towers and no keep; a 14th-century gatehouse tower. Here we have a proved instance of a motte completely swept away by an Edwardian transformation.' [E. S. A.]

SKREEN, Meath.-Giraldus mentions the castle of Adam de Futepoi, and as Skreen was his barony, his castle must have been at Skreen. In the grounds of the modern castellated house at Skreen there is a motte, 11 feet high (probably lowered), with a terrace round its flank; some slight traces of a bailey. [B. T. S.]

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SLANE, Meath.-The Song relates the erection of a motte by Richard the Fleming: "un mot fist cil jeter pur ses enemis grever. It also tells of its destruction by the Irish, but does not give its name, which is supplied by the Annals of Ulster. Probably Richard the Fleming restored his motte after its destruction, for there is still a motte on the hill of Slane, with a large annular bailey, quite large enough for the "100 foreigners, besides women and children and horses," who were in it when it was taken. The motte has still a slight breastwork round the top. The modern castle of

1 Mr Orpen says: "The castle was 'constructed anew' in the sixth and seventh years of Edward I., when £700 was expended." Irish Pipe Rolls, 8 Edward I., cited in Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 454.

2 Line 3178.

3 The annular bailey, with the motte in the centre, is a most unusual arrangement, and certainly suggests the idea that the motte was placed in an existing Irish rath.

the Marquis of Conyngham, below, incorporates half a round tower of 13th-century work, belonging no doubt to the stone castle which succeeded the motte.1 [B. T. S.]

THURLES, Tipperary (Dorles, Cal., i., 81).—A castle of Theobald Walter. Thurles Castle has a late keep with trefoil windows, and according to Grose was built by the Earl of Ormond in 1328. From information on the spot it appears that there used to be a motte in the gardens behind the castle; mentioned also by Lewis. [B. T. S.]

TIBRAGHNY, OF TIPPERAGHNY, Kilkenny (Gir., i., 386; Cal., i., 19). Granted to William de Burgh in 1200; built by John in 1185.2 A motte, with ditch and bank, and some trace of a half-moon bailey to the north. About 200 yards away is the stone castle, a late keep with ogee windows. [B. T. S.]

TIMAHOE, Queen's Co. (Gir., i., 356).—Built by Hugh de Lacy for Meiler Fitz Henry. A motte, called the Rath of Ballynaclogh, half a mile west of the village. The bailey, the banks and ditches of which seem remarkably well preserved, is almost circular, but the motte is placed at its edge, not concentrically. There are wing-banks running up the motte. Near it are the ruins of a stone castle built in Elizabeth's reign (Grose). [B. T. S.]

TRIM, Meath.-The Song tells of the erection of this castle by Hugh de Lacy, and how in his absence the meysun (the keep-doubtless wooden) was burnt by the Irish, and the mot levelled with the ground. This express evidence that the first castle at Trim had a motte is of great value, because there is no motte there The castle was restored by Raymond le Gros,3

now.

1 See Appendix M.
3 Giraldus, v., 313.

2 Annals of Loch Cè.

TRISTERDERMOT-WATERFORD

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but so quickly that the present remarkable keep can hardly have been built at that date.1 [B. T. S.]

*TRISTERDERMOт (Gir., v., 356).—Castle of Walter de Riddlesford. Tristerdermot is now Castledermot; there used to be a rath of some kind here close to the town. But Mr Orpen inclines to believe that the castle Giraldus alludes to was at Kilkea, another manor of De Riddlesford's, where there is a motte, near the modern castle. “In the early English versions of the Expugnatio Kilcae is put instead of Tristerdermot as the place where Walter de Riddlesford's castle was built.""

*TYPERMESAN (Cal., i., 110).—Mr Orpen writes that this name occurs again in a list of churches in the deanery of Fore, which includes all the parish names in the half barony of Fore, except Oldcastle and Killeagh. He suspects that Typermesan is now known as Oldcastle, "where there is a remarkably well-preserved motte and raised bailey."

WATERFORD (Cal., i., 89).—We are not told whether Strongbow built a castle here when he took the town from the Ostmen in 1170. The castle is not mentioned till 1215, when it was granted by John to Thomas FitzAntony. Waterford was a walled town in 1170, and had a tower called Reginald's Tower, which seems to have been the residence of the two Danish chieftains, as they were taken prisoners there. Here too, Henry II. imprisoned Fitz Stephen. It is possible that this tower, as Mr Orpen supposes," may have been considered as the castle of Waterford. But the existing "Ring

1 This keep has a square turret on each of its faces instead of at the angles. A similar plan is found at Warkworth, and Castle Rushen, Isle of Man.

2 Orpen, Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 248.

3 Figured in The Tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, by E. A. Conwell, 1873.

4 Gir., i., 255, 277.

5 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 457.

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