Moated site, Dysart, Co. Kildare
In the gently rolling countryside of County Kildare, approximately 300 metres south of the River Blackwater, lies what may once have been a medieval moated site.
Moated site, Dysart, Co. Kildare
The location appears on historic Ordnance Survey maps from 1838 and 1911 as a distinctive rectangular enclosure, measuring roughly 40 metres northwest to southeast and 35 metres in width. By the time of the 1911 survey, the enclosed area had been planted with trees, suggesting it had already transitioned from its original purpose to a landscaped feature.
Today, visitors to this recently drained pastureland near Dysart will find little visible evidence of the site’s past. According to local landowners, the area was cleared in the 1970s, erasing most surface traces of what stood here centuries ago. The rectangular earthwork likely belonged to the tradition of moated sites common in medieval Ireland, where Anglo-Norman settlers and wealthy Irish families constructed defensive homesteads surrounded by water-filled ditches. These moats served both practical and symbolic purposes; providing security whilst demonstrating the status and resources of their builders.
The site bears similarities to other documented moated enclosures in the area, suggesting it was part of a broader pattern of medieval settlement in north Kildare. While the physical remains have largely vanished beneath modern agricultural use, the persistent outline on nineteenth-century maps hints at a structure significant enough to survive as a landscape feature for centuries, even after its abandonment. Archaeological records compiled by Gearóid Conroy note parallels with nearby sites, indicating this quiet field once played its part in the complex tapestry of medieval Irish life.