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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Enclosure - large enclosure

Posseckstown (Moyfenrath Lower By.), County Meath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Enclosure - large enclosure, Posseckstown, 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
Posseckstown (Moyfenrath Lower By.)
County
Meath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Mound
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.41386, -6.83722
SMR number
ME048-019----

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

Situated on a rise in a level, low-lying landscape with the headwaters of a small NE-SW tributary of the SE-NW Blackwater River c. 50m to the NW. This enclosure was known locally as ‘Boyle’s Rath’ in the 1930s and a lot of folklore is associated with it (IFC Schools Collection, vol. 692, 248). This is a slightly raised oval and grass-covered area (dims 82m NE-SW; 48.5m NW-SE) defined by an earthen bank (Wth of base 7-8m; int. H 0.1m at W to 0.6m at SSW; ext. H 1.3m at ESE to 2.3m at NNE) and an outer fosse (Wth of top 5.5m at NNE to 7-10m generally; Wth of base 1-2m; ext. D 0.2-0.5m), which is missing NE-E where there are some old quarries. A natural NE-SW ridge runs through the interior, and there is an in-turned entrance (Wth of base 3.25m) at E.

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: 14 August 2019
Amended: 24 March 2023

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 21/1977).

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 Enclosure - large enclosure in Meath All County Meath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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