Barrow - stepped barrow

The National Monuments Service's description

Surveyed in 2013 and described by McGuinness (2014, 33) as following: 'Approximately teardrop-shaped platform with long axis (22m across) running NE-SW, the pointed end to SW; close to broad end (17.5m across) a roughly circular mound (Diam. 8m N-S x 7.5m E-W) rises from the platform, being 9m from SW end but only 4.5m from NE end. Platform has a sharply defined edge, possibly due in part to ploughing in its immediate vicinity, and rises up to 1m above ground level on SE side; the mound is up to 1m in height above the platform. There is an unpublished plan and profile of the monument in the SMR file. Monument is located on a low eminence in undulating, reclaimed pasture and ground drops away to SE more sharply than NW. Monument is marked ‘Mweeleen Moat’ on OS 6” map, the first term (maoilín, in the sense of ‘bald’ or ‘bare’) apparently descriptive of the appearance of this prominently sited barrow. According to Kane, monument ‘goes by the name Croc na Maoil, or sometimes Cnoc na Maoilin’, and he identified it as one of the three bald hill of Meath, whose tops were cut off by Fergus’s sword in the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Shaw dismisses Kane’s suggestion, identifying the monument as a sepulchral tumulus (Kane 1916-17, 563, Shaw 1921, 127)'.
Monument described in 1977 as a small circular shaped earth and stone mound surrounded by a flat berm like feature. The circular shape of the delimiting berm has been altered by land spill on the N side and defaced and destroyed on the S and W by the line of a post-1700 field fence (now removed). This has produced the rather straight profile on this side. There is a distinct round curve to E and N to the original curve of the berm feature. Probably a small bell barrow. Sited on a small ridge with an excellent view over the surrounding pasture land (ASI Field Report 21/07/1977)

See attached plan of monument surveyed and drawn by the ASI

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

Date of upload: 23 February 2015

References

McGuinness, D. 2014 The prehistoric burial mounds and related monuments of County Westmeath. Part II - Monuments in central Westmeath (Barony of Rathconrath and parts of baronies of Moygoish, Moycashel, and Moyashel & Magheradernon). Unpublished survey funded by Westmeath County Council in association with Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society.

Shaw, T.J. 1921 Some notes regarding Slemain Midhe, the probable site of the battlefield of Gairech and Ilgairech, and other places in Westmeath referred to in the Táin Bo Cúailgne. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 51, 133-46.

Kane, W.F. de Vismes 1917 Additional researches on the Black Pig's Dyke. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 34C, 539-63.