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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Towas, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Towas, 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
Towas
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.84836, -6.83931
SMR number
ME005-024----

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 on the crest of an ENE-WSW ridge. This is a circular grass and fern-covered area (diam. 38.m E-W; 35m N-S) defined by an overgrown earthen bank (Wth of base 7.5-9m; int. H 1-1.2m) separated by a rounded fosse (Wth of top 8-8.3m; Wth of base 1.5m; ext. D 1.1m at NW to 1.7m at SE) from an outer earthen bank (Wth of base 5-6m ext. H 0.6-1.1m) which is incorporated in a field bank NE-SSW and the bank of a N-S lane SSW-W. The fosse is rock-cut in places. The entrance (Wth of base 2.4m) and causeway (Wth of top 2.4m; H 1.3m) are at SSE. A depression (L 12m; Wth 4.7m; D 0.5m) extending from the centre to NNW could be a souterrain, although no stone is evident.

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: 3 September 2018

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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