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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Rathstephen, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Rathstephen, 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
Rathstephen
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.81542, -6.89523
SMR number
ME005-059----

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

Located on a rise in an undulating landscape. This is a raised and circular grass-covered area (diam. 56m E-W; 54.5m N-S) defined by an earthen bank (at N: Wth of base 6m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 3.5m) at N but it is largely reduced to an overgrown scarp (at S: Wth 6.5m; H 3.5m), with an outer stone facing SE-SW. The bank is separated by a rounded fosse (Wth of top 11-12m; ext. D 2-2.6m) from an outer overgrown earthen bank (Wth of base 8-9m; ext. H 0.8-1m), which is incorporated into a field bank ESE-WSW (max. ext. diam. 86.5m N-S). The entrance through the inner bank (Wth of base 2.4m) and a causeway (Wth of top 2.3m; H 0.6m) are at SE but the outer bank has been disturbed in this area.

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: 5 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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