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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Boynagh (Kells Lower By., Enniskeen Par.), County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Boynagh (Kells Lower By., Enniskeen Par.), County Meath, 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
Boynagh (Kells Lower By., Enniskeen Par.)
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.88544, -6.81760
SMR number
ME002-052----

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)
  • 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

Situated just SE of the summit of a NW-SE ridge. This is a circular grass-covered and slightly raised area (diam. 34m N-S) defined by a scarp (Wth 6-8m; H 1.1-1.5m at S) separated by a berm (Wth 2-3m) from an earthen bank (Wth of base 9-10m; int. H 1.4-1.7m; ext. H 3.3m) with some trees that only survives S-N-E. It has an outer fosse (at WNW: Wth of top 9.5m; Wth of base 2m; ext. D 1.4m) S-W-N, with a third outer bank (at SSW: Wth of base 4.5m; ext. H 0.6m) or a field bank surviving S-NW. An original entrance is not identified (max. ext. diam. 78m N-S). The monument is cut by an E-W field bank with a drain on its S side N of the centre, and the defining features barely survive E-S. Without an inner bank this feature could be interpreted as a prehistoric enclosure but the outer fosse suggests that it is a defensive earthwork rath.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 31 August 2018
Amended: 14 December 2022

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 Meath All County Meath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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