Castle - ringwork, Grange, Co. Tipperary
Sitting on a gentle southwest-facing slope in County Tipperary North, the remains of Grange ringwork tell a story of medieval fortification and centuries of change.
Castle - ringwork, Grange, Co. Tipperary
This earthwork castle, once a triangular enclosure measuring 32 metres northeast to southwest and 17 metres northwest to southeast, was defended by an earthen bank four metres wide and up to a metre high. Traces of stone walling or facing, just one course high, can still be spotted at the southwest corner, offering tantalising glimpses of its original construction.
The site’s history can be traced through old Ordnance Survey maps, which reveal how perceptions and uses of the space evolved over time. The 1840 map shows it as a triangular enclosure, whilst by 1953 it had been depicted as roughly semicircular, with a field boundary forming the eastern side. The interior had been quarried at some point, an activity already noted on that first edition map, suggesting the site had lost its defensive purpose long before the Victorian era.
Unfortunately, recent damage has severely compromised this archaeological treasure. The protective bank and surrounding scrub have been pushed into the interior, destroying much of what survived into the late 20th century. When inspected in 1981, the site remained relatively intact, but today it serves as a reminder of how vulnerable these earthwork monuments are to modern agricultural and development pressures. The ringwork shares characteristics with a similar fortification at Stook, suggesting these were part of a broader network of medieval defensive structures that once dotted the North Tipperary landscape.