Moated site, Doonooney, Co. Wexford
In the northern foothills of Camross Hill in County Wexford, a rectangular moated site offers a glimpse into medieval Irish settlement patterns.
Moated site, Doonooney, Co. Wexford
The site appears on the 1839 Ordnance Survey map as a subrectangular enclosure measuring approximately 55 metres northeast to southwest and 30 metres northwest to southeast. Today, the central area spans a more modest 23 by 21 metres and is planted with coniferous trees, making it easy to spot amongst the surrounding farmland.
The defining feature of this site is its system of defensive moats, though time has not been kind to all of them. The northwestern and northeastern moats were filled in within living memory, leaving only slight traces of their former presence at 2 to 5 metres wide and 0.7 metres deep. However, the southwestern moat remains remarkably intact, measuring 5 metres across at the top and narrowing to 3.3 metres at its base, with an internal depth of 0.9 metres and external depth of 1.4 metres. This surviving section is accompanied by an outer field bank that rises 1.8 metres high and stretches 4.5 metres wide.
Positioned on a small north-south spur with a stream running northwest to southeast about 70 metres away, the site would have been ideally placed for both defence and water access. The slightly raised corners of the rectangular enclosure hint at its former grandeur, when all four moats would have formed a complete defensive perimeter. Such moated sites typically date from the 13th to 17th centuries and were often associated with Anglo-Norman settlement, serving as fortified farmsteads or minor manor houses that dotted the Irish countryside during the medieval period.





