Located in the grounds of Castlecomer House in County Kilkenny, this elevated earthwork may have supported a castle as early as 1200, when records show it was burnt by the O’Brenans. The site gained strategic importance throughout the medieval period; in 1231, William Marshal obtained royal permission to fortify his castle here, whilst in 1295, Edward I entrusted its custody to Richard le Erecedekne to defend against the king’s enemies. By 1305, the Castle of Coumbre had become significant enough to host several of the justiciar’s courts, though it met a fiery end again in 1328 at the hands of William de Bermingham, Lord of Carbury.

The motte’s later history remains intriguingly unclear. A 1573 reference to ‘a strong fastness in Kilkenny called Iduffe’ may refer to this site, and the Down Survey maps of 1655-6 mark ‘Castle Comber’ as a tower house here. When the motte was partially excavated in 1938, stone wall footings were revealed and photographed, suggesting substantial medieval structures once crowned this earthwork, though today the heavily wooded mound shows no visible traces of these buildings.

What does survive is an angled structure at the northeast end of the site, likely an outwork of the bastioned fort in Castlecomer town dating to the early 17th century. This remnant, marked as ‘Castle (in Ruins)’ on the 1899 Ordnance Survey map, stands as the only upstanding building amongst the trees that now cloak this ancient stronghold, leaving visitors to imagine the successive castles that once commanded these river valleys.