This is the motte at Oldhall, Mulrankin; a grass and scrub-covered hill rising just over two metres high with a base spanning roughly 18 to 22 metres across. While it may appear unremarkable today, this flat-topped mound was likely the administrative centre, or caput, of the Brown family who arrived with the first wave of Norman invaders in 1169.

The Browns, or de Bruns as they were known in Norman French, were among the earliest conquistadors of Ireland. Sir William de Brun and his son Nicholas landed at Bannow Bay alongside Robert FitzStephen during that pivotal invasion, and both men witnessed important charters in the following years. By 1247, William held Mulrankin by half a knight’s fee; a feudal obligation that required military service to his overlord. His descendants continued this arrangement well into the 14th century, holding their lands from the powerful Bigod estate. The motte would have originally supported a wooden tower or palisade, serving as both a defensive structure and a symbol of Norman authority over the conquered Irish lands.

By the time of the Civil Survey in the 1650s, the site had become known as the “mount or moat of Oldhall” and served as a boundary marker between Mulrankin and Kilmore parishes. Today, no visible fosse or outer defensive bank remains, though a slight depression to the south hints at old quarrying activity. Archaeological testing conducted in 2008 found no related medieval material in the surrounding area, suggesting the motte stood somewhat isolated from any associated settlement. The Ordnance Survey maps of 1940 rather mysteriously labelled it as a “Tumulus”, perhaps misidentifying this Norman earthwork as a prehistoric burial mound.