Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Enclosure
Rathscanlan, County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Rathscanlan
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.95077, -8.93327
- SMR number
- MA062-050----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid 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)
- 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In flat expanse pasture, located on a slight rise, straddling the break of slope of a steep E-facing slope, which falls into a N-S stream valley.
This enclosure is not shown on the 1838 edition OS 6-inch map; it is indicated on the 1919 edition as a circular enclosure outlined by a solid line On the 25-inch plan trees are shown in the interior. It is recorded in an aerial photograph (OS 2 8787 -8; Roll 216, pr. 6; SMR file).
It has been partly levelled but its outline can still be discerned as a slight circular rise (c. 23.7m E-W; 24.7m N-S) enclosed by a narrow, shallow fosse (W c. 1.2m; D 0.1m). The interior encompasses part of the E-facing slope so that there is there is an abrupt drop in ground level of c. 1.6m in the E third of the interior, and the enclosing fosse cuts across the steep E-facing ridge slope. Cultivation ridges on a N-S axis can be seen traversing the interior; these appear to post-date the enclosure.
This is an unusual enclosure –in particular the narrow fosse and the steeply sloping interior. It may have been a tree-ring, as indicated on the 25-inch plan, and later used for cultivation. A similarly enclosure (MA062-051----) is located c. 100m to SSE.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 30 November 2020
Nearby in the register
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.