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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Megalithic tomb - passage tomb

Knowth, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Megalithic tomb - passage tomb, Knowth, 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
Knowth
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.70167, -6.49149
SMR number
ME019-030013-

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 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · 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

Knowth cemetery, Tomb 13: Situated immediately N of the great mound, Tomb 1C. The kerb of Tomb 1Cadopts a straighter course here which suggests that the Tomb 13 mound might pre-date that of the great mound. It consists of the remains of a mound (diam. c. 12.5m) of sods (max. H 0.8m) defined by contiguous kerbstones surviving E-S-W, although 7 of these at SW were altered in antiquity to accommodate Tomb 1C. There are 8in situ orthostats and 12 sockets representing an undifferentiated passage tomb, (int. dims 5.6m NNW-SSE; Wth 0.3-1.2m) opening to the SSE. The tomb has at least 1 sillstone, and a small portion of cremated material was recovered inside the sillstone. One stone from the tomb and 4 of the kerbstones bear megalithic art, usually consisting of single motifs, although one kerbstone has a spiral on top and two concentric circles on the outer face. A stone from a nearby later drain with a concentric circle and a possible spiral might also be from this tomb. The mound is completely reconstructed with replacement kerbstones. (Eogan 1968, 310-14, Site 3; 1984, 72-9, Site 13; 1986, 78-9)

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.

Date of upload: 10 July 2007
Amended: 16 September 2020

See the attached plans:
_1 Cemetery plan from Knowth 6, Fig. 2:1
_2 Tomb plan from Knowth 1, Fig. 38

Eogan, G. 1984 Excavations at Knowth 1. Dublin. Royal Irish Academy.

Eogan, G. 1986 Knowth and the passage-tombs of Ireland. London. Thames and Hudson.

Eogan, G. 1968 Excavations at Knowth, Co. Meath, 1962-1965. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 66C, No. 4, 299-400.

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
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