This inverted pudding-bowl shaped mound rises about 3.5 metres high with a base diameter of roughly 17 metres, topped by a flat platform measuring 10 metres across. Now overgrown with trees and bushes, it’s what archaeologists recognise as a motte; the earthen mound that once supported a timber castle during the Norman period.

This particular motte sits within or very close to what was once a medieval borough, suggesting this wasn’t just a military installation but part of a larger settlement that grew up around the castle. The Normans typically built these structures in the late 12th and early 13th centuries as they established control over newly conquered territories, using them as administrative centres and defensive strongholds. The timber palisade and buildings that once crowned the summit have long since disappeared, leaving only the earthwork as evidence of the castle’s existence.

What’s particularly interesting about this site is the absence of any visible bailey, the enclosed courtyard that usually accompanied a motte. The surrounding landscape has been significantly altered over the centuries, with the later country house and its farm buildings immediately to the north having reshaped much of the original medieval topography. Despite these changes, the motte remains a tangible link to Castletown’s medieval origins, when Norman lords and Irish chieftains vied for control of this part of Limerick.