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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Wooddown, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Wooddown, 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
Wooddown
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.53088, -7.26770
SMR number
WM019-067----

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 a small rise (108m/353ft) at the S edge of a bog, with good views in all directions. Depicted on the 1837 OS 6-inch map as an oval-shaped enclosure. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 6-inch map as an oval-shaped earthwork bisected by a public road.
Monument described in 1970 as a bivallate roughly circular-shaped area (dims. 33m NNE-SSW; 29m WNW-ESE) enclosed by two earthen banks with corresponding fosses and a causewayed entrance visible at S where there is a gap (Wth at top 5.4m; basal Wth 3m) in the inner bank, a gap (Wth at top 3.6m; basal Wth 2.1m) in the outer bank and a causeway (max. Wth at top 3.3m; max. basal Wth 5.6m; max. H 0.4m) across the fosse. The centre of the monument is bisected by a public road running WNW-ESE. The inner bank is almost reduced to a scarp yet drops steeply on the exterior. A shallow intervening fosse is visible from NNE-E-S-WNW. There are indications of a berm between the intervening fosse and outer bank from WSW-W. The outer bank is best preserved from E-S-W and is almost completely denuded from W-N-E. Traces of an outer fosse are present from SSE-S-W. The perimeter has been defaced from E-SE during construction of a modern field fence running NNE-SSW. The interior rises slightly from the perimeter towards the centre. Monument is visible on Digital Globe aerial photography as a tree-covered monument to N of public road and as a tree-lined enclosure to S.

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

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

Date of upload: 04 June 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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