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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Davidstown, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Davidstown, 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
Davidstown
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Partially hachured
Coordinates
53.55162, -7.52952
SMR number
WM018-010----

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 on ENE-facing slope of a gentle rise, in pasture with good views to N and SE. A ringfort (WM018-009----) lies c. 115m to NW. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a D-shaped earthwork (approx. dims. 25m NE-SW along straight side; 24m NW-SE) forming a field boundary to SW and on the straight side to NW. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a modified rectangular-shaped enclosure (approx. dims. 35m NE-SW; 25m NW-SE) defined by a field boundary to SW and NW.
Described in 1970 as a much disturbed roughly rectangular-shaped area enclosed by a substantial earthen bank and a modern stone wall. The earthen bank is present from NNE-E-ENE and is reduced to a well-defined scarp (H 1.5m) from E-S. The bank has been modified from S-SW-WSW where the outer face has been steepened in relatively modern times and has the remains of modern stone facing, where incorporated into a modern field fence. A scarp is visible from WSW-NNE, where it is obscured by a modern stone wall. The original entrance is not visible. The interior has a gentle ENE-facing slope with slight traces of cultivation ridges running NNW-SSE. A large stone protrudes from the surface within the W quadrant. Monument is visible today as a roughly oval-shaped, partially tree-lined earthwork on Digital Globe aerial photography.

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

Date of upload: 11 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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