Barrow - ring-barrow

The National Monuments Service's description

Monument surveyed in 2015 and described by McGuinness (2015, 53) as following: ‘Very large, previously unrecorded ring-barrow (Diam. 44.5m N-S x 47.2m E-W), comprising a broad and very low domed mound (Diam. 32m N-S x 33.7m E-W) surrounded by a circular ditch; there appear to be the slightest traces of a bank outside the ditch, best seen on aerial photographs, but these are very unclear and the bank has been excluded from the overall diameter given above. Ditch is broadly U-shaped to flat-based with basal width of 2.7m, and, on N side, is sunk 0.22m below central mound and 0.78m below external ground level (or the denuded remains of the presumed bank); rubble has been dumped in its SE quadrant in recent times. Central mound is currently sunk 0.47m below external ground level where measured at N side, and must have been proportionately deeper when outer bank was intact. Monument is sited in low-lying basin with higher ground surrounding it, greatly reducing visibility. A second circular earthwork, possibly also a barrow, is visible on aerial photographs in an adjacent field c. 60m to WNW, but this has not yet been examined by the survey-team on the ground. Another barrow lies in Edmondstown (WM013-048----) less than 350m to SE of the present monument, and between the two is a small natural lake or pool, possibly a kettle-hole of glacial origin; between this lake and the present site, which lie 130m apart, is a small stream, its curving channel altered in places for drainage purposes. About 700m to NW in Balreagh is a ruined medieval church in a burial ground (WM013-038----), the‘regular oval enclosure’ surrounding the latter being sufficiently diagnostic for Leo Swan (1988, 26) to identify this as an early medieval ecclesiastical foundation; immediately NW of this church site is a motte (WM013-037----) and close by is a souterrain (WM013-039----)’.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness.

Date of upload: 8 February 2016

References

McGuinness, D. 2015 The prehistoric burial mounds and related monument of County Westmeath. Part III - Monuments in Northern and Eastern Westmeath (Baronies of Delvin and Fore, and Parts of Baronies of Farbill, Fartullagh, Moygoish, and Moyashel & Magheradernon). Unpublished survey funded by Westmeath County Council in association with Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society.

Swan, D.L. 1988 The Early Christian ecclesiastical sites of County Westmeath. In J. Bradley (ed.), Settlement and society in Medieval Ireland: studies presented to F.X. Martin O.S.A., 1-31. Kilkenny. Boethius Press.