Moated site, Kilvealaton West, Co. Cork
In a quiet pasture on the southwest bank of the Glashaheagow Stream in County Cork sits the remains of a medieval moated site that once protected what local tradition suggests was a church.
Moated site, Kilvealaton West, Co. Cork
The rectangular earthwork, measuring approximately 55 metres from northeast to southwest and 40 metres from northwest to southeast, consists of substantial earthen banks and defensive ditches that have stood for centuries. Today, these impressive fortifications are heavily overgrown with trees and undergrowth, making the interior completely inaccessible, though the defensive features remain clearly visible from the outside.
The site’s defences vary around its perimeter, reflecting the careful planning of its medieval builders. On the southwest side, two earthen banks; an inner one standing about a metre high and an outer bank just slightly lower; sandwich a defensive ditch between them. The northwest and southeast sides feature a single earthen bank with an external ditch roughly 0.6 metres deep, plus a low counterscarp bank for added protection. The northeast side, where the Glashaheagow Stream now flows through what was once a defensive ditch, has an earthen bank and external fosse. Historical maps from 1842 show that the stream once also flowed through the southeast ditch, suggesting the medieval builders cleverly incorporated water defences into their design.
When antiquarian Bowman visited in 1934, he recorded it as a church site on the land of one H. Foote, noting that whilst local memory preserved its ecclesiastical connection, “not a vestige of the Church is now to be seen.” The rectangular plot of about one acre has since been recognised as a classic example of an Anglo-Norman moated site, likely dating from the 13th or 14th century when such fortified homesteads were commonly built across Ireland. These sites typically housed manor houses or religious buildings, protected by water-filled moats and earthen banks from both human threats and the wolves that still roamed medieval Ireland.