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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Linear earthwork

Ratoath, County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Linear earthwork, Ratoath, 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
Ratoath
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.50843, -6.46156
SMR number
ME044-034012-

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

Located within the town of Ratoath, between the motte and bailey and the church. Archaeological monitoring (01E1173) by F. O’Carroll of the line of a sewer under the footpath (D c. 06.-1.6m) adjacent to the extended graveyard (ME044-034017-) and on the line of a new road constructed in 1795 identified a number of features including an open linear ditch (excavations.ie 2001: 1042). The layer of blue/grey compact earth beneath the road surface dips into a wide trench (Wth 1.8m plus) which was not bottomed (D 1m plus) but has straight sides. The large ditch appears to be running WNW-ESE and is aligned with a substantial WNW-ESE drain that is mapped c. 150m to the W and c. 100m to the E on the 1908 edition of the OS 6-inch map and which is still partly open. It is possible that this ditch marked the N boundary of the medieval settlement and that smaller cuts that appeared in the section are the boundaries of the burgage plots as recorded on the OS 6-inch maps. No artefacts were recovered from these features but post-medieval pottery was recorded from the closing layer of this larger ditch. (O’Carroll 2002, 11)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 9 December 2021

O’Carroll, F. 2002 Archaeological monitoring at Kentstown Road, Ratoath, Co. Meath. Licence No. 01E1173. Unpublished report, CRDS

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 Linear earthwork in Meath All County Meath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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