Castles of Tipperary

Knockgraffon Motte, Cahir: A Norman Mound on a Munster Royal Site

A steep Norman mound beside the Suir, raised in 1192 on a hill that tradition links with the kings of Munster.

Knockgraffon motte is a Norman earthwork about 5 km north of Cahir in County Tipperary. Heritage Ireland dates it to 1192 and describes it as a motte built by the Normans on a natural hill, with a bailey at the base to the north-west. It is a National Monument in state guardianship, an unguided site you can see for free, and it is believed to stand on an earlier inauguration site of the Kings of Munster. That combination of a well-preserved Norman earthwork, a ruined medieval church close by and a royal tradition makes it one of the most interesting small sites in the county.

What a motte and bailey is

A motte-and-bailey castle was the quick, effective fortress of the early Norman conquest: a wooden keep on an earthen mound (the motte), an enclosed courtyard (the bailey), and a palisade around it. Heritage Ireland uses that definition for the site. Timber has long since rotted, so what remains is the earthwork itself, which is why these sites last so well.

What survives at Knockgraffon

According to Heritage Ireland, the motte is built on a natural hill and is steep on all sides except the north. The page lists these features:

• remains of a walled structure, and sections of wall, on top of the motte;
• an extensive fosse (ditch) at the foot of the motte to the south-west;
• a rectangular bailey defined by a stone bank;
• remains of a structure at the base of the motte and other subdivisions within the bailey.

The page gives no measurements, so we give none either.

Built in 1192

Heritage Ireland says the motte was built in 1192 against Dómhnall Mór Ua Briain, King of Thomond and of Munster. Wikipedia tells it a little differently, saying the English of Leinster raised it beside the Suir during a raid against Donal Mor, whom it calls chief of the O’Sullivans. The two accounts name the opponent differently, so the safest statement is that it was a Norman foundation of 1192 raised in the contest for control of the Suir valley.

The ownership that followed is documented on the Heritage Ireland page. In 1202, by order of King John, the site was granted to William de Braose. In 1215 it was re-granted to Philip of Worcester, along with five cantreds in Tipperary, for £100. Around 1300 it passed by dowry to Joan de Bermingham, whose husband, Meiler de Bermingham, died in 1302. She later sued her father-in-law over possession and won.

A royal site of Munster?

The older tradition is the more striking. The name Knockgraffon is usually glossed as the hill of the fort of Fionn. Heritage Ireland says the motte is believed to have been built on an earlier inauguration site for the Kings of Munster, and Wikipedia says the hill is claimed as the coronation place of those kings. It ties the site to Fíngen mac Áedo Duib, a King of Munster who died in 618, and his descendants, the Cenél Fíngin. Wikipedia sets out its significance with an “if true” caveat, comparing it with Tara. Nobody has proved that, and amateur site notes such as The Modern Antiquarian are visitors’ opinions rather than scholarship. What can fairly be said is that the Normans often built on places that mattered to the people they replaced, and tradition says that is what happened here.

The church and tower

Close to the motte are the ruins of a medieval church, which Wikipedia describes as a 13th-century nave-and-chancel church with a 15th-century east window inserted later. The same page mentions a 16th-century tower built by the Butlers a few hundred yards away. By the 18th century, Wikipedia says, the settlement had been abandoned.

Visiting

Heritage Ireland lists Knockgraffon as an unguided site: there is no staff, no ticket and no visitor centre, and the OPW asks visitors to take “a level of care and caution”. Its grid reference is on the Heritage Ireland page. Wear boots, because the ground can be wet and the sides of a motte are steep, and respect the land and any neighbouring property. Check the Heritage Ireland page for current information before you go.

From Ardfinnan

Knockgraffon is one of the nearest of the county’s castle sites to Ardfinnan: about 15 km by road, around 20 minutes. It is 5 km north of Cahir, which is 10 km from Ardfinnan, and Heritage Ireland gives the distance from the motte to Cahir Castle as about 4.2 km. That makes an easy half-day: Ardfinnan Castle from the village bridge, Cahir Castle, then the motte. Ardfinnan is a Norman castle on the same river, begun in 1185, only seven years before the motte. For the full set, see Castles of Tipperary.