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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Rathmea, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Rathmea, 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
Rathmea
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.74404, -7.21887
SMR number
ME014-008----

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 a fairly low N-S ridge in a gently undulating landscape with higher point all around. It is represented as a circular embanked enclosure (diam. c. 45-50m) on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map and as a D-shaped feature on the 1908 edition. This is a raised trapezoidal and grass-covered area (dims 18m E-W at S; 31m E-W at N; 30m N-S) defined by scarps with some bushes on the W, N (Wth 6m; H 1.9m) and E sides and by a wide, low and grass-covered bank (Wth of base 4.5m; int. H 0.7m; ext. H 1.8m) separated by an outer fosse (Wth of top 6.5m; Wth of base 2.5m; ext. D 1.5m) from an outer grass-covered bank (Wth of base 5m; est. H 1m) at S. This is a rath that has been truncated and the original defences only survive at S. An original entrance is not identified. Rath (ME014-007----) is c. 90m to the SE. Archaeological testing (06E0365) by C. Duffy c. 30m to the NE at the closest point produced no related material but the monument is provided with a buffer zone (Wth 2m) (excavation.ie 2006:1627; 2007:1379).

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: 21 November 2018
Amended: 18 February 2021

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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