Type motte Height 12 metres (39 ft) Founded 12th/13th century | Area 0.7 ha (1.7 acres) Material earth Region River Dee | |
 | ||
Location Greenmount, Castlebellingham,
County Louth, Ireland | ||
Greenmount Motte is a motte and National Monument in County Louth, Ireland.
Contents
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.
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.
The foundations of an elongated chamber (1.5 × 1 m in size, 5.5 m below the summit) are visible in the bailey.
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. Also found were animal bones, charcoal, burnt earth, a bronze axe and a bone harp peg with friction marks.
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.