Moated site, Tinnaslatty, Co. Kilkenny
On the steep southwestern slopes of a small stream valley in County Kilkenny, a rectangular earthwork stands amongst rolling pasture lands.
Moated site, Tinnaslatty, Co. Kilkenny
This moated site at Tinnaslatty measures approximately 34 metres north to south and 31 metres east to west, enclosed by an earthen bank that’s about 2 metres wide. The bank, which contains a notable amount of stone, rises between 0.2 and 0.5 metres on the interior side and roughly a metre on the exterior. Running alongside the outer edge of the bank is a broad fosse, or defensive ditch, measuring around 1.5 metres wide with depths varying from 0.2 to 0.8 metres.
The site offers commanding views along the valley to both the northeast and southwest, as well as across the narrow valley to the northeast; a strategic position that would have been valuable to its medieval inhabitants. Moated sites like this one typically date from the 13th and 14th centuries and were often built by Anglo-Norman settlers as fortified farmsteads. They served as both defensive structures and status symbols, marking the presence of colonising landlords in the Irish countryside.
Today, the monument has been planted with trees and shows signs of agricultural use over the centuries, with several cattle gaps cut through the bank, though no original entrance remains clearly identifiable. Despite these later modifications, the site remains a well-preserved example of medieval settlement patterns in Ireland, offering insights into how the landscape was organised and defended during a period of significant cultural and political change.