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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Sionhill, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Sionhill, 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
Sionhill
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Partially hachured
Coordinates
53.54889, -7.16495
SMR number
WM020-043----

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 high terrace on the NW-side of a high hill, in pasture with extensive views to S, SW and N. Depicted on the 1837 OS 6-inch map as a circular-shaped earthwork intersected at SE by a field boundary. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a D-shaped earthwork transected by a field boundary to SE. Monument described in 1970 as a broad oval-shaped area (dims. 41m N-S; 29m E-W) defined by a scarp and fosse. The scarp is relatively high (H 2.7m) and exists from SE-S-W-NW. There are traces of a fosse also from SE-S-W-NW. The original entrance is not clearly recognisable but it may have been through a gap (Wth at top 4m; basal Wth 2m) at ENE. There are gaps in the scarp at E and SE where traversed by modern field fences. The interior is divided into three parts by two modern field fences. One extends ENE-WSW and NE-SW across the S quadrant and the other extends NW-SE across the S sector. The division to N has clear traces of cultivation ridges running N-S. Monument is visible as a partially tree-lined earthwork on Digital Globe aerial photography.

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

Date of upload: 04 July 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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