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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Church

Rath Lower, County Louth, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Church, Rath Lower, County Louth, 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
Rath Lower
County
Louth
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Grange Abbey (in Ruins)
Coordinates
54.00750, -6.18096
SMR number
LH008-099001-

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 1636 map "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1636 · Vltoniae Orientalis Pars (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · 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

Marked as 'Abbey' on current OS 6-inch map and as 'Castle Ruins' on Taylor and Skinner's map of 1777. It is illustrated by Wright (1758, bk II, pls XV and XVI) and would appear to be a fortified ecclesiastical site with towers at its NW and SW angles and the original church at the E half of the structure. Wright's plan of the structure (pl. XVI) would strongly indicate that this was originally a church which was later fortified. It appears in the Louth inventory (Buckley 1986, 93) as a castle but is included here as an ecclesiastical building. There are no visible surface remains, but a late medieval window lintel stone was to be seen in the wall of a house in the village of Grange in the 1960s. (Wright 1758, bk II, 7, pls XV and XVI; CLAJ 1941, 12)

Excavation in advance of a construction of a housing scheme (Excavation Licence: 02E0530) uncovered a series of walls which are possibly part of the structures depicted by Wright (1758, bk II, pls XV and XVI). These are preserved in-situ. A series of pits and ditches were also uncovered. (Clutterbuck 2004, 384-5)

The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Claire Breen

Date of revision: 14 January 2011

References

Wright, T. 1748 Louthiana: or an introduction to the antiquities of Ireland. London. Thomas Payne.

Clutterbuck, R. 2004 'Rath Lower Medieval grange' in I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2002: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 384-5 (1360). Bray. Wordwell

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
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