Moated site, Moynalvy, Co. Meath
The moated site at Moynalvy sits on gently rolling countryside in County Meath, where centuries of Irish history have left their mark on the landscape.
Moated site, Moynalvy, Co. Meath
Back in 1640, this area belonged to Anne Hussy, an Irish Catholic landowner who held 338 acres here, complete with a stone house, an old castle, and ten cabins. The Civil Survey of 1654 recorded her holdings, which also included 60 acres in nearby Crickstown, whilst other members of the Hussy family owned parcels throughout the barony of Deece.
Today, the site reveals an intricate network of earthworks spanning roughly 64 acres. Aerial photographs from the 1970s show a fascinating pattern of banks and ditches that once divided the land into small rectangular and irregular fields, each measuring around 60 by 50 metres. These earthen banks, about three metres wide and up to 80 centimetres high, paired with ditches roughly two metres across, create a ghostly outline of medieval field systems that would have supported the agricultural life of the settlement.
At the heart of these earthworks lies a rectangular grass-covered enclosure measuring approximately 21.5 by 19.5 metres. This moated structure, defined by a relict bank and an outer fosse on its northeastern and southeastern sides, represents the defensive core of the medieval settlement. A stream runs along its southwestern edge, whilst a field bank marks the northwestern boundary. The entire moated enclosure sits within the western corner of a larger defensive earthwork, suggesting this was once a well-fortified homestead, perhaps connected to the old castle mentioned in the 17th-century records.