Motte and Baileys

Aedh Baclamh

Any of you guys interested in these features that are scattered across the east of the country? I want to get myself a book on them and was wondering if you have some recommendations. I tried to get some of Kieran O'Connor's (pretty sure that's his name) work on the subject but not too sure as to where to get myself a copy.

boneless

Tadgh O'Keeffe covers the subject in his work 'Medieval Ireland: An Archaeology', but I can't think of any indepth studies of them off-hand. MacNeill might refer to them in his work on medieval castles too; I will look it up when I get a chance.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

By the way, have you ever visited one?

Aedh Baclamh

Have one behind my house!

guinnessdrinker

Is there any in the west of Ireland that are easily visited?

boneless

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Have one behind my house!

Excellent!!! They are interesting structures....

Aedh Baclamh

And the one behind us here is very interesting (so it seems). It has a number of trenches built on the east side of the motte, as this was the side which it was attacked from most. Is this common with motte and baileys in the country?

Guinnessdrinker - Looking at this month's edition of Archaeology Ireland, it would seem that most motte and baileys lie in the east side of the country and very few are in the west.

Owen

We had one on our Family Farm outside Baltinglass, the Government put a preservation order on the land, and it quickly became overgrown as we weren't allowed to touch it. Farm was sold about 15 years ago, so I can only imagine the condition it's in now.

Aedh Baclamh

The one here is overgrown too. Is there anything that can be done about that?

funky penguin

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Guinnessdrinker - Looking at this month's edition of Archaeology Ireland, it would seem that most motte and baileys lie in the east side of the country and very few are in the west.

Yep. The Normans concentrated on the East and South-East (that general area anyway), building a glut of Motte and Bailey's after 1169, even building some atop ringforts to cement their authority. Facinating culture.

And I second the recomendations of Tadgh O'Keefe's books. He gave a few lectures on the Normans last semester, and they were very enjoyable.

Fletch123

I'd definitely recommend Kieran O'Conor's work- 'The Archaeology of Medieval Rural Settlement in Ireland' is very good, and explains everything pretty well, especially Kieran's theories on DMV's in Ireland.

Aedh Baclamh

I tried getting them off Kieran himself but he never got back to me about them. Wouldn't happen to know where I could get them?

Meathlass

Fletch123 wrote:

I'd definitely recommend Kieran O'Conor's work- 'The Archaeology of Medieval Rural Settlement in Ireland' is very good, and explains everything pretty well, especially Kieran's theories on DMV's in Ireland.

I did my MA Thesis on Motte and Baileys so this topic brings back lots of memories! Keiran's book is excellent but out of print now I think. Check ebay or amazon for it. There are very few mottes west of Mullinger. They were the initial structure that the Normans used to settle the land and so are necesarily defensive in nature. County Louth has some of the best ones in the country. If you check out the Archaeological inventory for your local county you can see if there are any near you that you can visit. Brain a bit dead at the moment so if anyone has anymore questions I can answer I'll try again later!

Fletch123

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

I tried getting them off Kieran himself but he never got back to me about them. Wouldn't happen to know where I could get them?

Kieran can be a tad stressed sometimes so you could just remind him! Also, he doesn't really do email, in case that's how you were communicating! Certain libraries should have them, I know you wanted to own a book, but reading borrowing them might be a start!

Reoil

Howdy! Sorry for dragging up an old thread (better than starting a new one and losing all this info).

I'm have a strange fasination with Motte and Baileys. I've lived very near one all my life, and I guess it started from there. I've bought ordnance survey maps for the county and have been to a lot of them, raths and most of the other significant earthworks.

Has anybody here ever had experience of working on them?

robp

Does anyone here know anything about raised or platform ringforts and their relationship to mottes?
They seem to be quite similar monuments in appearance.
There is a site near me (in E. Waterford) that locals view as a motte but it more similar to a ringfort in height and width.
I presume the size is usually the distinguish factor.
What would be the smallest type of a motte?