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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Ballygortagh, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Ballygortagh, 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
Ballygortagh
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.46647, -6.68731
SMR number
ME043-038----

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)
  • 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

Located on a bluff at the bottom of an E-facing slope with a small W-E section of a stream c. 20m to the S. This is raised circular and grass-covered area (diam. 33.5m NE-SW; 32m NW-SE) defined by the lip of a scrub-covered earthen bank (at NW: Wth of base 6.5m; int. H 0.2m; ext. H 1.3m) that is largely reduced to a scarp (at SE: Wth 2.8m; H 1.4m), and an outer fosse (Wth of top 7.5-7.8m; ext. H 0.6m at NW to 1.3m at SE). An outer bank (at SE: Wth of base 5m; ext. H 0.7m) only survives ESE-WSW. The entrance through the inner (Wth of base 3m) and outer (Wth of base 5m) banks is at SE. The fosse has been deepened and incorporates a field drain SW-WSW.

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: 26 August 2019

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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