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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
Coordinates
52.01243, -10.01281
SMR number
KE071-143----

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)

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

The National Monuments Service's description

In mountain heath (183m OD), on a NE-facing slope, within a large scatter of loose rocks and boulders. Excellent view of Behy River valley to NE and overlooked by a horseshoe of mountains enclosing SE->SW->N. A slightly rough and fractured sandstone (dims. 1.10m NE-SW; 0.80m NW-SE; max. H 0.26m at NW) which is subrectangular in plan. The decorated surface (dims. 0.45m NW-SE; 0.35m NE-SW) has a W-facing aspect and bears extremely weathered and very faint motifs. The decorative elements consist of a circular cupmark (diam. 4cm; D 3mm) and an oval cupmark motif (dims. 4cm x 3cm; D 3mm) adjacent to SE, which may have possible traces of a ring (Wth 1cm; D 3mm) at NW and NE. A small pockmark (diam. 12mm; D 4mm) is located 0.2m to NW, on a lower area of the decorated surface. Three possible pickmarks (diam. 5mm; D 3-4mm) are adjacent to SE. A low, drystone field wall (long-axis E-W) is c. 1.8m to NW and a stream (long-axis NE-SW) is c. 4m to NW. Rock art (KE071-144----) is located c. 15m to S.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 18 July 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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