Naas Local History
Group Homepage
About the group
History of the town
The Dun or Mote
St David's Church
King John's Castle
The
Catholic Churches
The Town Hall
The Courthouse
Pictures of Naas
Killashee
|
The Dun or Mote of Naas
The ancient Dun or Fort of Naas consisted of two Motes,
the North Mote and the South Mote. The North Mote is ten metres
high, has a diameter of almost one hundred metres at the base,
and was built in Viking or early Norman times on the site of
the Dun of the Kings of Leinster. It is still in a good state
of preservation, and is almost certainly the oldest man-made
structure in the town. The 18th century house on the summit
was used first as a guard room for the jail, and later as a
look-out post and heliograph signal station by the British Army,
who were stationed on the Curragh during the 19th century.
The South Mote which is now only discernable as a low hillock,
was situated on the site of the present Fairgreen, and shows
no indisputable trace of fortifications, apart from the stone
wall which is all that remains of an eighteenth century military
barracks which existed on the site and was attacked during the
1798 rebellion. It was later replaced by the Naas Infantry Barracks
on the Newbridge Road in 1810.
|
|
