Granard Motte

Granard Motte is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle and National Monument in Granard, County Longford, Ireland.

Location
Granard Motte is located in the town of Granard, 5.7 km west of Lough Kinale, overlooking the Inny valley. At an altitude of 163 m it is the highest motte in Ireland

History
Granard motte was built c. 1199 by a Norman knight, Risteárd de Tiúit. It was erected upon and within a pre-existing ringfort, which may have belonged to a local branch of the Ó Fearghail (Farrell).

The site later became known as Rath Granard and may have acted as an inauguration site for the Ó Fearghail. Sean Ó Fearghail, Chief of Annaly is believed to have died here immediately after his inauguration in 1475 and was interred at Abbeylara nearby. Many myths are attached to the hollow within the motte: some say there is a castle concealed within it, or gold, or perhaps a grain store. In 1932 a statue of Saint Patrick was erected on top of the motte to mark the sesquimillennium of his mission to Ireland.

Description
The Motte is a great flat-topped, circular earthen mound, on top of which would have been a timber tower surrounded by a palisade. Across the base was a U-shaped bailey: an enclosure surrounded by a palisade ditch. It is very strongly fortified except on the southern side, which seems to have been guarded solely by the deep trench on the summit. The sub circular mound is about 9 m in height with a deep fosse at the northeastern side and a D-shaped bailey on the southwest side.