This spot, located about 100 metres southwest of Brittas Castle, once held what historians believe was a Norman motte castle; a type of fortification consisting of a large earthen mound topped with a wooden tower. When archaeologist O’Dwyer documented the site in 1964, he found an impressive earthwork measuring 64 metres in diameter and rising 6 metres above the surrounding field, complete with what appeared to be an artificial channel cutting through to the nearby river some 137 metres away.

The motte likely dates to the Anglo-Norman period when these fortifications were commonly built across Ireland as symbols of conquest and control. O’Dwyer suggested that the wooden tower, or bretasche, which would have originally crowned this mound may have given the townland of Brittas its very name. These structures were typically part of a motte-and-bailey castle system, where the raised mound provided a defensive position whilst a lower enclosed courtyard, or bailey, housed domestic buildings and livestock.

Today, nothing remains visible of this once-imposing earthwork. Aerial imagery from 2011 to 2018 shows only an unremarkable field where this piece of medieval military architecture once stood, a reminder of how even substantial historical features can be completely erased by time and agricultural activity. The site wasn’t even marked on Ordnance Survey maps, making its brief documentation in the 1960s all the more valuable for understanding the Norman presence in this part of Limerick.