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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Knocklong West, County Limerick, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Knocklong 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
Knocklong West
County
Limerick
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured (1927)
Coordinates
52.43936, -8.42570
SMR number
LI040-081----

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)

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

The National Monuments Service's description

In reclaimed pasture 30m SW of earthwork (LI040-082001-). Depicted on the OSi 25-inch map as a raised circular-shaped platform (diam. c. 26m) defined by a scarp with fosse. Westropp (1917-19, 174) described this ringfort as, ‘a marsh fort, a ring, 66 feet (20m) inside; the rampart is 6 feet (1.8m) thick and high, the fosse 12 feet (3.6m) wide and only 2 feet to 3 feet (0.6-0.9m) deep, with an outer ring 3 feet (0.9m) high and 6 feet (1.8m) thick. Windele describes it as,"a motte 13 feet (3.9m) high with a cave in which a dog was lost" ’. Visible as a raised circular-shaped area defined by a scarp with fosse and outer bank on aerial photograph (ASIAP (344) 0, 3) taken 05/01/2003 and on oblique aerial photograph taken 20/07/1968 (CUCAP AVT028). Monument is clearly visible on Google Earth orthoimage dated 19/09/2019 where it is intersected at NW by a field drain running NE-SW.

See attached CUCAP aerial image, (ASIAP (344) 0) and Google Earth orthoimages.

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date of upload: 10 June 2021

References

CUCAP - Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs. Unit for Landscape Modelling, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. See:https://www.cambridgeairphotos.com

Lenihan, M. 1866 Limerick: its history and antiquities.

ASIAP - Archaeological Survey of Ireland Aerial Photographs (c. 1996 - c. 2010).

Westropp, T.J. 1917-19 The Earthworks, Traditions, and the Gods of South-Eastern Co. Limerick, Especially from Knocklong to Temair Erann. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature 34, 127-183.

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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