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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Megalithic tomb - passage tomb

Dowth, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Megalithic tomb - passage tomb, Dowth, 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
Dowth
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Dowth Tumulus
Coordinates
53.70384, -6.45054
SMR number
ME020-017----

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 1799 map "Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1830 · V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. C. Kon: Ireland. a. Prov: Leinster. Counties: 1-12 (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

The following 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/revision: 10 July 2007

This great mound, comparable in original size with those at Newgrange (ME019-045----) and (ME019-030----), is not as well preserved. Much of the material to W was removed at various times in the past and in 1847, when in the course of excavation a large crater was dug into the top of the mound. This monument comprises a kerbed mound, 85m in diam., and 15m in H, covering two passage-tombs opening onto its W side. The N tomb, 12.5m long, is of cruciform shape; an annex of two chambers opens off S recess. A reconstructed stone basin lies in centre of chamber. S tomb is 8.25m long and comprises a short passage leading to a sub-circular chamber with a single recess opening off its SE side. A number of kerb stones and structural stones in both tombs bear megalithic art. (Souterrain (ME020-017001-) built into the mound. (PRIA 1983, 5-190)

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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