Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - rath
Kiltale, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Kiltale
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.52912, -6.65556
- SMR number
- ME037-025----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Situated on a hillock known as ‘Madden’s Hill’ which is part of an E-W esker. No feature is depicted on any OS map but in 1966 human remains and a furnace bottom came to light in a quarry, and excavation identified a souterrain (ME037-025001-) and the ditch of an oval rath (dims c. 40m E-W; c. 30m N-S) that only survived in broken sections at ENE and ESE, the rest of the enclosure having been quarried away. The enclosure was defined by a V-shaped fosse (Wth of top 2.5m; D 1.7m) that had plentiful animal bones at the bottom, and had been back-filled in two phases. The souterrain extended from the interior into the silted fosse at E. (Rynne 1974, 267-8)
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 August 2019
References
Rynne, E. 1974 Excavations at “Madden’s Hill”, Kiltale, Co. Meth. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 74C 267-75)
Nearby in the register
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Burial groundunder 1 mi
- Pit-burialunder 1 mi
- Barrow - unclassifiedunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.