A VERY special event will take place in the Horse & Hound, Ballinaboola, on August 21, at 8 p.m., when the results of a major archaeological survey of the motte and bailey in Old Ross will be made public.

The ThORRP project, which was spearheaded by Sinead Marshall, who is originally from New Ross, saw the local historical site subjected to the very latest hi-tech LiDAR scanning.

The results were quite astounding and revealed images of structural formations within the vicinity of the motte and bailey about which local knowledge was forgotten.

A team of volunteer fieldwalkers had carried out on-site analysis in the search for artefacts and that also proved very fruitful.

The event in the Horse & Hound is being organised in conjunction with National Heritage Week and the ThORRP project is running colouring competition for children as part of the event.

For the competition participants are asked to download and colour in the image of a motte and bailey contained on this page and submit it for entry to the Horse & Hound, by August 17.

All entries should include the child’s name, age and address.

The image is that of the type of motte and bailey that was originally sited at Old Ross.

The night will also feature the launch of the project’s website and the full presentation of results from the LiDAR and geophysical exploration of the site – carried out by Joanna Leigh of J. M. L. Surveys .

Artefacts will also be put on display and a pottery expert will be in attendance to talk about them.

The colouring competition entries will also be displayed on the night and a small prize will be presented to the overall winner.

Please also credit photo copyrights to ThORRP.