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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Piercetown (Rathconrath By.), County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Piercetown, 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
Piercetown (Rathconrath By.)
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Indicated
Coordinates
53.55649, -7.59966
SMR number
WM017-117----

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

Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as an oval-shaped tree-lined enclosure. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a circular-shaped enclosure (approx. diam. 25m). Monument described in 1973 as a circular-shaped enclosure measuring ’36 paces internal diameter. On slight natural rise (alt. 200 – 300 ft) in gently undulating pasture. Thorn hedge round perimeter. Low platform (c. 2 ft high) with straight drop (partly revetted with dry stone) outside. No fosse & no proper bank. Presumably a small ringfort partly reused as a small garden. A few boulders around edge, presumably cleared off the land' (OPW Site report 25/01/1973). Monument visible today on Digital Globe photographs as a tree-lined circular-shaped enclosure. Monument placed on the Register of Historic Monuments, Iris Oifigiúil, 11 February 1975.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 10 January 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 Westmeath All County Westmeath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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