This earthwork fortification was built in 1211 by Robert Pipard, an Anglo-Norman lord who held lands in the region as part of a grant made around 1190. With backing from John de Grey, the Bishop of Norwich and Justiciar of Ireland, Pipard erected a castle here as part of the Norman push into Ulster. The construction was no small undertaking; financial records from 1211-12 show significant resources were invested, and the Justiciar even brought the feudal army to Clones to support the project. However, the castle’s life proved remarkably short. Within a year of its construction, Hugh O’Neill and his forces routed the English garrison, killing Pipard’s son Myler in the process, and by 1212 the men of the north had burnt the castle to the ground. The site appears to have been abandoned after this devastating attack.

Today, the motte survives as an impressive wooded mound, roughly 50 to 55 metres across at its base and rising 6 to 8 metres high. Two defensive ditches, or fosses, encircle the earthwork at different levels; the lower one often fills with water, whilst the upper has largely silted up to form a terrace with a low bank along its outer edge. The summit, though uneven from probable quarrying, still rises about 3 metres above the upper fosse level. To the northeast, the bailey occupies a rectangular area measuring approximately 35 by 40 metres, defined by overgrown scarps and partially surrounded by ditches. Intriguingly, raised triangular projections at the north and west corners suggest the bailey may have been refortified during the late 16th or 17th century, possibly when English garrisons were stationed at Clones during this turbulent period.

The site’s military significance didn’t end with the medieval period. A map from the Down Survey of 1656-58 depicts a rectangular fort at this location, and in 1689 Jacobite forces used it as their base when attacking the nearby settlers’ castle, marking what was probably the monument’s final military use. Local folklore speaks of underground passages or a souterrain beneath the motte, though no physical evidence has been found to support these tales. Despite centuries of neglect and the encroachment of vegetation, the earthworks remain remarkably well preserved, offering visitors a tangible connection to the contested borderlands of medieval Ireland where Norman ambitions met fierce Gaelic resistance.