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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Rock art

Letter West, County Kerry, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Rock art, Letter West, County Kerry, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Letter West
County
Kerry
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not Indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not Indicated
Coordinates
52.01488, -10.01473
SMR number
KE071-083----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Get directions ↗

This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

This monument was initially identified as rock art by Aoibheann Lambe in 2014.  In mountain heath, on a gentle NE-facing slope (175m OD), overlooking Behy River valley to NE; overlooked by mountains SE->W->NE. Bog trackway is c. 7m to SE, a disused reservoir is c. 40m to NE and a watercourse (draining from Coomnacronia Lake) is located c. 50m to NW. A slightly rough and fractured sandstone rock (dims. 0.9m N-S; 0.50m E-W; max. H 0.60m at ENE), which has an irregular-shaped decorated surface (dims. 0.55m N-S; 0.40m E-W) with a SW-facing aspect. Well-defined rock art consisting of a cup-and-one ring motif (dims. 9cm N-S; 12cm E-W) located centrally and having a cupmark (diam. 4cm; D 4mm) and ring comprised of pickmarks (each diam. 4-5mm; D 2-3mm). Three cupmarks (diam. 2cm; D 4-5mm) one of which is located upon the picked ring of the cup-and-one ring motif, at NE. Small pickmarks (diam. 4-5mm; D 2-3mm) and slightly larger pickmarks (diam. 1cm; D 4-5mm) across decorated surface, having no discernible pattern. Shallow, open grassed-in land drain (long-axis NE-SW) is c. 0.75m to W and old turf banks/turfcutting areas to S.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 3 March 2017

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Rock art in Kerry All County Kerry records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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