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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Tonagh, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Tonagh, County Westmeath, 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
Tonagh
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Partially outlined
Coordinates
53.51042, -7.87846
SMR number
WM015-012----

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)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (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 in wet poorly drained land, with a field drain running along S and W perimeter of the monument. Depicted as an oval shaped mound enclosed by a fosse with field drain running along S and W side of monument on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map. Only the enclosing fosse of the monument is indicated on subsequent editions of the OS 6-inch maps. Present remains consist of a circular-shaped area (approx. diam. 25m NW-SE) enclosed by a poorly preserved earthen bank, mainly reduced to a scarp with a shallow wide external waterlogged fosse. The bank is best preserved from ENE-S, and reduced to a scarp from SSW-NW. The fosse is waterlogged, and a spring is depicted on the 6-inch OS maps at the S end of the fosse on the W side. The interior of the monument is wet and marshy. Unusual location for a ringfort, the wet nature of the terrain and its depiction on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch may suggest that this was the site of a large barrow rather than a ringfort.

See attached profile of monument surveyed and drawn by the ASI.

Compiled by: Frank Coyne and Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 6 September 2018

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 Westmeath All County Westmeath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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