Greenmount Motte
Motte in County Louth, Ireland
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Greenmount Motte is a motte and National Monument in County Louth, Ireland.
| Greenmount Motte | |
|---|---|
| Móta Dhruim Chatha (Irish) | |
| |
  Location within Ireland | |
| 53.877999°N 6.385855°W | |
| Type | motte |
| Periods | Norman Ireland |
| Cultures | Cambro-Norman, Old English |
| Associated with | Normans |
| Location | Greenmount, Castlebellingham, County Louth, Ireland |
| Region | Dee Valley |
| History | |
| Built | 12th/13th century |
| Site notes | |
| Material | earth |
| Height | 12 metres (39 ft) |
| Area | 0.7 ha (1.7 acres) |
| Excavation dates | 1830 and 1870 |
| Archaeologists | Rev. Joseph Dullaghan, John Henry Lefroy |
| Public access | yes |
Official name | Greenmount motte |
| Reference no. | 144 |
Location
Greenmount Motte is located 2.9 km (1.8 mi) west of Annagassan, overlooking the Dee Valley.
History and archaeology
Motte-and-bailey castles were a primitive type of castle built after the Norman invasion, a mound of earth topped by a wooden palisade and tower.[1]
The motte at Greenmount was formerly known as Droim Chatha ("Battle Ridge", Anglicised Dromcath or Drumcath). A Nicholas of Drumcath (Nicholaus de Dromcath) is mentioned in a documents of 1310 and 1328.[2]
The foundations of an elongated chamber (1.5 × 1 m in size, 5.5 m below the summit) are visible in the bailey.[3]
A scabbard-mount with runic inscriptions (DOMNAL SELSHOFOTH A SOERTH THETA, "Domnal Seal's-head owned this sword") was found in excavation, but it believed to be long pre-Norman, indicating that the motte was constructed on the site of an earlier tumulus.[4][5] Also found were animal bones, charcoal, burnt earth, a bronze axe and a bone harp peg with friction marks.[6]
Greenmount was a camp ground for Catholic Irish forces in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. It was excavated in 1830, causing a cave-in, and again in 1870.[citation needed]