TreeAlive
‹ Sites and Monuments Record, Ireland

Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Longford West, County Limerick, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Longford West, County Limerick, 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
Longford West
County
Limerick
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured (1928)
Coordinates
52.55809, -8.23333
SMR number
LI025-009----

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 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1882 · Ireland (southern half). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1904 · Sheet 13. (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

On a slight ENE-facing slope, in pasture with good views from N-NNE-NE, overlooking the Dead River which lies 45m to E and also forms the townland boundary with Longford East. Depicted on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map as a large oval-shaped earthwork with a well shown 15m to N. Monument surveyed by the ASI in 1999 and described as a raised oval-shaped area (approx. 40m NE-SW; 30m NW-SE) defined by a scarp (Wth 3.1m; H 1.6m) with a fosse (Wth 2.4m; D 1.35m) and an outer bank (overall Wth 3.85m; Wth at top 0.85m; int. H 1.35m; ext. H 0.2m) from NE-E-S-W-WNW. The interior has a slight NE-facing slope, is poorly drained and largely obscured by overgrowth. There is no obvious entrance feature. A naturally formed fluvial channel (approx. Wth 20m; D 2m below interior of monument) runs WSW-ENE along the N side of the enclosure and may have been incorporated as a defensive feature. The natural slope also falls sharply from the site from NE-E-SE. Monument is visible as an oval-shaped tree-planted earthwork on OSi orthophotos taken 2005-2012, on Digital Globe orthophotos taken 2011-2013 and on Google Earth orthoimage taken 18/11/2018.

See attached Google Earth orthoimage taken 18/11/2018.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 18 October 2020

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 Ringfort - rath in Limerick All County Limerick records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
See your own family's places on a living map